Larval diet influences rDNA activity and stability.

<p><b>(A)</b> Real time PCR quantification of cDNAs derived from unprocessed (ETS-18S junction) pre-rRNA from larvae fed either SY10 or SY30 diets. Values were normalized to the genomic DNA copies of tRNA^K-CTT genes and proportions plotted relative to Standard-fed larvae (defined as 100%). Error bars report standard deviation of RNA quantities derived from five independent pools of larvae for each condition, and indicate differences between populations exposed to altered dietary source. Although population distributions (shown) overlap, average rRNA expressions of SY10 vs SY30 differ. <b>(B)</b> Gallery of representative salivary gland nuclei obtained from SY10-fed larvae. Frequency of nuclei with multiple nucleoli was 7% ± 6% (S.D.), N = 337. α-Fibrillarin stains nucleoli red, DAPI stains DNA blue. <b>(C)</b> Gallery of representative salivary gland nuclei obtained from SY30-fed larvae, stained as in (B). Frequency of nuclei with multiple nucleoli was 40% ± 24% (S.D.), N = 522. <b>(D)</b> Real-time quantitative PCR analysis of <i>35S</i> rDNA copy number in adult males raised on SY10 or SY30 as larvae. Percentages calculated relative to isogenic flies raised on standard food (defined as 100%). Error bars are standard deviation of three independent biological replicates and 3–4 technical replicates of each, and so contain pooled standard deviations of the populations and standard errors of the quantification. <b>(E)</b> Quantification of acidified-alcohol-extractable pigment from <i>white</i>^mottled-4 flies raised on SY10 and SY30. Error bars are standard deviation of three parallel biological replicates each containing heads from 20 individuals. All P-values (in (A), (D), and (E)) were calculated using Student’s t-test.