Exploring Sex Differences In Body Size Using The Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster)

Interviewee: Celena Cherian, PhD Candidate, Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Life Sciences Institute, The University of British Columbia | Authors/Editors: Romina Garcia de leon, Janielle Richards (Blog Co-coordinators)

Published: December 6, 2024

Can you tell us about your research?

In the animal kingdom, there are sex differences in body size across many species. This is true for Drosophila (fruit flies) as well, where females are larger than males. Furthermore, sex differences within species exist in multiple aspects of physiology and metabolism. Therefore, my research project involves exploring sex differences in body size using the fruit fly with the aim of elucidating the mechanism for these differences. I am particularly interested in the larval adipose tissue biology as it is important for systemic growth.

What led you to undertaking this research?

I was searching for labs that used imaging techniques to study cell biology, and mitochondrial biology in particular. This was the only lab that I came across which employed these techniques while exploring sex differences. I was then struck by the fact that nobody was studying sex differences in this area. This was the primary reason I wanted to do research in the area; the research was novel and I wanted to be involved in generating data on physiology and metabolism within females. Additionally, I really loved the way my supervisor wrote her papers. They were very easy to understand and I could see how passionate she was about science communication. I was sold before I got into the lab and luckily I was able to secure a position.

Are there any findings in the field and/or your study you wish to highlight?

Prior literature shows that ribosome and mitochondrial biology in the larval adipose tissue are both important for cellular growth, organism growth, and body size. However, these papers didn’t use both sexes separately and instead mixed sex populations were used. Many studies also classically only use males to study for metabolism, because female hormones were presumed to be confounding factors which has created a gap in the contribution of mitochondrial and ribosome function in cell growth. 

This was the starting point for our research and so far we found that female larval adipose tissue has significantly higher levels of mitochondrial and ribosomal protein genes than males. We are currently working to investigate the cellular significance of this exciting finding.

Where do you see your research going?

I hope my research encourages others to analyze males and females separately in the field of metabolism and physiology as data in this area is limited. I hope to understand the role of protein synthesis and mitochondrial function in regulating sex differences in growth. I would like to find which pathways are involved and also look at the effect of nutrients on these sex differences. Eventually, I am interested in looking at the impact of sex determination genes / sex chromosomes on these cellular functions.