The purpose of this interdisciplinary activity is to offer a meaningful scientific research experience for students interested, but not majoring in chemistry. This work investigates Drosophila response to Erythritol, high-fructose corn syrup, and starch-based control media. Erythritol ((2R,3S)-butane-1,2,3,4-tetraol) a widely used as food additive, is known to be toxic to Drosophila at higher than molar concentrations. In the current study, we investigated the sugar-alcohol’s effect at much lower concentrations, roughly equivalent with the molarity of the high fructose corn syrup routinely used in Drosophila media preparations. We assessed Drosophila egg laying and survival on a variety of media preparations. Preliminary data shows significant differences across media types in larvae reaching pupal and adult stages, suggesting Erythritol does have deleterious effects on Drosophila life cycle even at lower level used in this study. A surprising find was that Drosophila reproductive rates were highest on the starch-based control media. According to the literature, female Drosophila prefer to lay eggs on high nutritive substrates, leading to increased survival of offspring. The starch-based control media has the lowest caloric value, and no added sweetener, since all three media contain the same starch base. The current data was obtained by a biology minor student who since graduated, but the work is being continued by other undergraduate students interested in scientific research. The students’ duties include preparing the media for Drosophila, examining egg laying and survival, and designing additional experiments that address new research questions that arise. Students working on this project become familiar with the scientific method and learn to explore chemical problem-solving strategies, solution stoichiometry, life cycle of Drosophila, chemical-sensing adaptations in living organisms, and statistical data analysis. The project is a collaborative effort between Chemistry and Biology faculty at a liberal arts college.

Effects of erythrytol on Drosophila melanogaster: An undergraduate research study performed by students not majoring in chemistry

251st National Meeting (2016)

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