Diet supplementation with egg yolk powder fattens the beetle Tribolium castaneum

Insects have become essential models in studying human metabolic diseases, mainly due to their low maintenance cost and available tools. Both mutations and modified diets induce metabolic states similar to human obesity and diabetes. Here, we explore the effect of a high-calorie, high-fat diet on the metabolism of the beetle Tribolium castaneum. Supplementation of the wheat flour diet with powdered egg yolk for 3 weeks increased the total triacylglycerol and accelerated larval development. In addition, this diet increased the triacylglycerol levels of adult beetles. However, this egg yolk supplementation did not alter the larvae's total glucose levels or lipogenic capacity and ATP citrate lyase activity. The diet also did not change the expression profile of several lipid and carbohydrate metabolism genes and insulin-like peptides. Thus, we conclude that the diet supplemented with egg yolk induces increased fat without causing diabetes phenotypes, as seen in other hypercaloric diets in insects.