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University of Louisville

Theses/Dissertations

Drosophila melanogaster

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Full-Text Articles in Physiology

Impacts Of Dietary Restriction On A Drosophila Model Of Werner Syndrome, Eileen Sember May 2023

Impacts Of Dietary Restriction On A Drosophila Model Of Werner Syndrome, Eileen Sember

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive disorder that results in premature aging and occurs in 1 in 1,000,0000 to 1 in 10,000,000 people. In humans, WS is the result of mutations that render the WRN gene, that contains a helicase and an exonuclease domain, non-functional. Currently, there is no cure for WS in humans, making dietary and lifestyle interventions attractive for increasing the quality and longevity of lives. Diet restriction (DR) has been shown to extend the lifespan of several model organisms, including Drosophila melanogaster, making it a strong candidate for WS treatment. In this thesis, mutant flies …


Influences Of Drosophila Circadian Clock On Sugar-Mediated Physiological Changes, Erica E Hassoun May 2022

Influences Of Drosophila Circadian Clock On Sugar-Mediated Physiological Changes, Erica E Hassoun

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

It is widely known that high sugar consumption and poor sleep are detrimental to human health. Both are risk factors for obesity, which can lead to conditions such as heart disease. Despite this connection between sugar and sleep, little is known about how circadian clock dysfunction affects the physiological changes caused by increased sugar consumption. In this thesis, a mutant line of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (ClkJrk, which contains a nonfunctional circadian rhythm gene known as Clk) that leads to circadian dysfunction, was exposed to a high sugar diet to observe how Clk affects sugar-related changes to …