Branching for food: How nutrients remodel the fly circulatory system
Friday, January 17, 2014 - 09:50
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) —New research from the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre suggests that nutrients in the diet may play a role in changing the architecture of blood vessels in the gut and other organs. The study, in fruit flies, found that small changes in their diet alter the nerve signalling guiding branching of new oxygen-delivering tubules – a process reminiscent of adaptive angiogenesis. In turn, this affects how the fly handles and stores different nutrients from its diet.