Unpredictability and adaptive responses to dietary variability in Japanese quail

Area of Science:

• Comparative Physiology
• Molecular Biology
• Animal Adaptation

Background:

• Organisms face challenges with unpredictable dietary availability, requiring adaptive plasticity.
• The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is crucial for sensing nutrients and responding to energy budget constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the molecular mechanisms of adaptation to dietary unpredictability in Japanese quails.
• To explore sex-specific responses to varying dietary conditions and their impact on physiology and gene expression.

Main Methods:

• Adult Japanese quails (male and female) were subjected to three dietary conditions for 16 days: unpredictable feeding, constant restriction, and full feeding.
• Body mass, egg production, and gene expression patterns of mTOR pathway components were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Unpredictable feeding reduced body mass in females but not males.
• Gene expression of mTOR, IGF1, and IGF1R was downregulated, while ULK1, ATG9A, and ATG5 were upregulated in females under unpredictable feeding.
• Gene expression variations correlated with treatment effects on body and egg mass.

Conclusions:

• Dietary unpredictability triggers sex-dependent molecular adaptations in Japanese quails, involving the mTOR pathway and autophagy.
• These findings illuminate survival strategies and resource allocation under fluctuating food availability.