Hypomagnetic Fields Influence the Growth, Development, Reproduction and Temperature Stress Resistance of Drosophila melanogaster via Frataxin-Associated Traits

Frataxin is a highly conserved mitochondrial protein that plays a key role in iron homeo-stasis & metabolism and its deficiency leads to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunc-tion, and neurodegeneration. Hypomagnetic fields (HMF) can lead to various biological effects including increased oxidative stress, neurological and developmental disorders, yet its acting as an environmental stressor that exacerbates the inherent metabolic vulnerabil-ities in frataxin-deficient Drosophila melanogaster flies is still unknown. In this study, the bio-effects of HMF on growth, development, reproduction and temperature stress re-sistance of frataxin-silenced flies were investigated. The results showed that HMF ex-tended egg to adult and pupa developmental durations of both control line of repo-GAL4; tub-GAL80^ts>GFP RNAi (GFP-RNAi) and frataxin-deficient line of repo-GAL4; tub-GAL80^ts>fh RNAi (fh-RNAi) compared to those reared under geomagnetic field (GMF). Compared with GMF, HMF increased the offspring fecundity of both GFP-RNAi and fh-RNAi flies, while showing no significant effects on adult weight of fh-RNAi flies. The impact of HMF on temperature stress resistance was particularly specific: it enhanced recovery from chill coma in control (GFP-RNAi) flies, while it accelerated recovery from heat shock in frataxin-silenced (fh-RNAi) flies. The mechanisms through which HMF modulates frataxin-associated phenotypes at a fundamental physical level warrant fur-ther investigation.