UNALTERED MEIOTIC CHROMOSOME SEGREGATION IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER RAISED ON A 5-PERCENT QUERCETIN DIET

Flavonoid plant pigments are an integral part of the human diet. Altho ugh potentially negative mitotic effects of flavonoids have been obser ved in model organisms, investigation into meiotic effects of flavonoi ds has been neglected. As flavonoids affect cell signalling and DNA re plication, and because the flavonoid content of the human food supply is being increased, determining the effects of flavonoids on meiotic f idelity is important. Here, the effect of the human food supply's most prevalent flavonoid, quercetin, on the level of meiotic recombination and the amount of X and 4th chromosome non-disjunction in Drosophila melanogaster females was determined. This model organism was chosen si nce Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens share a remarkable number of commonalties in the meiotic processes of oogenesis and because gen etic techniques allow a detailed analysis of meiotic processes in Dros ophila. No significant effect on either non-disjunction levels or the percentage distribution of exchange bivalents was observed. A signific ant effect was observed on the number of offspring; Fl and F-2 generat ions of flies raised on a quercetin diet produced over 10% more progen y than flies raised on a control diet. In this investigation, high que rcetin consumption by Drosophila melanogaster females did not pose a t hreat to meiotic fidelity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.