Effects of a high cholesterol diet onDrosophilachill tolerance are highly context-dependent

Abstract

AbstractChill susceptible insects are thought to be injured through different mechanisms depending on the duration and severity of chilling. While chronic chilling causes “indirect” injury through disruption of metabolic and ion homeostasis, acute chilling is suspected to cause “direct” injury, in part through phase transitions of cell membrane lipids. Dietary supplementation of cholesterol can reduce acute chilling injury inDrosophila melanogaster, but the generality of this effect and the mechanisms underlying it remain unclear. To better understand how and why cholesterol has this effect, we assessed how a high cholesterol diet and thermal acclimation independently and interactively impact several measures of chill tolerance in both male and female flies. Cholesterol supplementation positively affected tolerance to acute chilling in warm-acclimated flies (as reported previously). Conversely, feeding on the high-cholesterol diet negatively affected tolerance to chronic chilling in both cold and warm acclimated flies, as well as tolerance to acute chilling in cold acclimated flies. Cholesterol had no effect on the ability of flies to remain active in the cold or recover movement after a cold stress. Our findings support the idea that dietary cholesterol reduces mechanical injury to membranes caused by direct chilling injury, and that acute and chronic chilling are associated with distinct mechanisms of injury. Feeding on a high-cholesterol diet may interfere with mechanisms involved in cold acclimation, leaving cholesterol augmented flies more susceptible to chilling injury under some conditions.HighlightsCholesterol improves cold shock tolerance of warm-acclimated fliesCold acclimation and chronic cold instead lead to negative effects of cholesterol on chill toleranceCholesterol did not affect the ability of flies to remain active in the coldBoth sexes were similarly affected by a high cholesterol diet