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Darwin Chambers Incubator Featured in Drosophila Study Published in Nature

Posted by Darwin Chambers on August 24, 2023

Scientific studies are the vehicle by which we, as a society, move forward. They make our lives and our jobs easier and more comfortable. Darwin Chambers’ job is to make those scientific studies not only possible, but efficacious.

Our environmental chambers were recently used to conduct a peer-reviewed study published in the Nature scientific journal from publisher Springer Nature. Learn about the study, see the published article, or contact the Darwin Chambers team today.

Drosophila Study Examining the Effect of Temperature on Male Reproduction

In the study, researchers investigated the effects of different temperatures on male fertility using drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) as specimen. They observed that when adult male flies were exposed to warm temperatures (29 °C), their fertility was drastically reduced. The study revealed that this decrease in fertility was due to both low sperm abundance and poor sperm quality.

View or download report

You can also read the article here.

Researchers utilized Darwin Chambers insect incubators to control and manipulate conditions for the experiment. The drosophila stocks were incubated for varying lengths of time at temperatures between 18°C to 29 °C. Humidity was set at a consistent 80% and light was set to a 12 hour light-dark cycle. This, like so many other studies was all made possible by the chambers we have engineered for the specific application of working with fruit flies.

The research highlights the detrimental impact of elevated temperatures on male fertility in Drosophila and other insects. It emphasizes the need to understand the physiological and reproductive responses of organisms to changing environmental conditions, particularly in light of the negative consequences on public health, economics, and ecology associated with compromised insect reproduction.

Drosophila Incubators

Scientists have been using drosophila melanogaster, or fruit flies, for biological research for more than one hundred years. They have been integral to the advances in our understanding of genetics, and controlled environments like the insect incubators make these studies possible.

Learn more about our reach-in insect incubators, including the IN and INR, or any of our other environmental chambers. Or start shopping our reach-in chambers, portables, and parts online now. And when your research demands more space, check out our walk-in chambers for insect rearing and other applications.

Contact Our Team

Have questions about how our products can help you with your study or which chamber model is right for your application? Our experts are standing by and ready to help you navigate this important decision. Give us a call at (314) 534-3111 or reach out online now.

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