Effects of Endocrine Disrupting Agent Bisphenol A on Selected Behavior and Related Gene Expression in Drosophila melanogaster

The effects of Bisphenol A (BPA) on selected behaviors of Drosophila melanogaster such as migration rate and grooming rate were studied by rearing the flies for 60 generations in two different concentrations (0.007 g/2 ml and 0.01 g/2 ml) of BPA. Simultaneously, the effect of Bisphenol A on the expression of the “foraging gene ( for )” in treated adult stages of fruit fly through quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR and droplet digital PCR assays was investigated. BPA had a significant impact on the migratory behavior of adult flies, resulting in a nearly 50% decrease in migratory capacity but a threefold increase in self-grooming behavior. The foraging gene was likewise shown to be significantly downregulated among the treated flies. Our study revealed that BPA is an ethotoxic and genotoxic agent and it may incur a wide range of imperilments in other eukaryotic model organisms too.