Design of an optical system equipped with blue LEDs for the irradiation of Drosophila melanogaster cultures

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster, better known as the fruit fly, has become a widely used model organism that has allowed us to understand many biological behaviors, from sleep to neurological diseases, behavioral patterns, reproduction, and the circadian cycle, which coordinates biological rhythms in a 24-hour daily cycle through its main Zeitgerber, light, especially blue light. Therefore, the aim of this work was to build an optical setup with a hexagonal design that allowed a large number of Drosophila melanogaster cultures to be irradiated homogeneously with blue light simultaneously. This array can cover an illuminance range from 0 to approximately 600 lux by applying a current variation from 0 to approximately 1 A. It also has a real-time timer to turn the lights on and off, programmed in a 12:12 LD cycle for 24 hours. The optical setup with its unique design can become a very useful tool for developing experiments and understanding paradigms related to blue light at genetic, behavioral and neuronal levels, among others that are still unanswered.