Impact of long-term co2 exposure on drosophila heart and health

Abstract

Higher CO2 levels in the environment could impose challenges to the heart and health of respiring organisms. Drosophila melanogaster is the model organism used to check if different dosage concentrations of CO2 have an effect on heart beat and/or rhythmicity. The impact of CO2 on heart functions is a poorly studied area, especially in multigenerational contexts. Does long term exposure to CO2 lead to compromised health and heart malfunctions? D. melanogaster is the preferred choice due to its conserved heart development short life cycle. I exposed ten isofemale lines of D. melanogaster for varying CO2 doses for five generations. I observed a difference in heart rates between control (no CO2) and experimental flies (+CO2 doses) in the analysis of the 5th generation of flies.