Metabolic profiling of Drosophila melanogaster metamorphosis: a new insight into the central metabolic pathways.

Introduction: Metamorphosis is a complicated process in which cell proliferation, differentiation, and death are orchestrated to form the mature structures of insects. In Drosophila, this process is controlled by ecdysone, a steroid hormone responsible for tissue remodeling and organogenesis that gives rise to the adult fly. Objective: By using a metabolomics approach, this study aimed to elucidate global changes in the central metabolic pathways in Drosophila throughout metamorphosis and then further examine the effects of temperature and origin on metabolic profiles. Methods: Targeted and non-targeted metabolic profiling of time-course samples from Drosophila were constructed to cover a wide range of cellular metabolites during metamorphosis. Results: This was the first wide-scale metabolomics study of Drosophila metamorphosis focusing on central metabolism. The abundance of detected metabolites changed drastically and correlated strongly with the development of Drosophila pupae. In non-stress conditions, temperature affected the developmental time, but the metabolic state at a certain stage of metamorphosis remained stable. Between D. melanogaster Canton S and Oregon R, similar metabolic profiles throughout metamorphosis was observed. However, there were still differences in purine and pyrimidine metabolism at an early stage in the pupal period, which was matched by differences in ecdysteroid levels. Conclusion: This study supported the strength of metabolomics in the field of developmental biology. The results provided a general view on the metabolic profile of Drosophila during metamorphosis, which provides basic 3 knowledge for future metabolomics studies using Drosophila. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]