Frontiers in Pharmacology (Jun 2015)

Inositols affect the mating circadian rhythm of Drosophila melanogaster

  • Kazuki eSakata,
  • Kazuki eSakata,
  • Haruhisa eKawasaki,
  • Takahiro eSuzuki,
  • Takahiro eSuzuki,
  • Osamu eNegishi,
  • Takuo eTsuno,
  • Hiromi eTsuno,
  • Youta eYamazaki,
  • Norio eIshida,
  • Norio eIshida

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2015.00111
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6

Abstract

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Accumulating evidence indicates that the molecular circadian clock underlies the mating behavior of D. melanogaster. However, information about which food components affect circadian mating behavior is scant. The ice plant, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum has recently become a popular functional food. Here, we showed that the close-proximity (CP) rhythm of Drosophila melanogaster courtship behavior was damped under low-nutrient conditions, but significantly enhanced by feeding the flies with powdered ice plant. Among various components of ice plants, we found that myo-inositol increased the amplitude and slightly shortened the period of the CP rhythm. Real-time reporter assays showed that myo-inositol and D-pinitol shortened the period of the circadian reporter gene Per2-luc in NIH 3T3 cells. These data suggest that the ice plant is a useful functional food and that the ability of inositols to shorten rhythms is a general phenomenon in insects as well as mammals.

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