Integrated respirometry and metabolomics unveil circadian metabolic dynamics in <i>Drosophila</i>
Sleep and circadian rhythms shape organismal energy patterns, but how this timing connects to oxygen use and carbon dioxide production remains incompletely understood. We combined high-resolution respirometry with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics to characterize respiratory dynamics and metabolic states in Drosophila melanogaster , resolving genotype-specific…
Sleep and circadian rhythms play a crucial role in regulating an organism's energy patterns, but the connection between these rhythms and oxygen consumption as well as carbon dioxide production is not fully understood. Researchers sought to investigate this relationship by combining high-resolution respirometry with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics to analyze respiratory dynamics and metabolic states in Drosophila melanogaster.
In wild-type flies maintained under light-dark cycles, respiratory patterns were found to be rhythmic, reflecting an anticipatory coordination of mitochondrial energy metabolism, amino acid turnover, and redox cycling. Short-sleep mutants (fmn, sss) demonstrated elevated metabolic rates, with reactive shifts in fuel preferences towards lipid and amino acid catabolism, as well as altered mitochondrial respiration.
Clock mutant (per01) and flies maintained under constant darkness exhibited widespread metabolic dysregulation and impaired redox homeostasis.
The findings of this study reveal that both sleep and circadian systems work together to align metabolic substrate selection with energy demands, providing mechanistic insights into how disruptions in behavioral states can compromise metabolic health.
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