Data from: Unpredictability and adaptive responses to dietary variability in Japanese quail

Understanding animals' molecular mechanisms of adaptation to
unpredictable changes in dietary availability provides insights into how
organisms optimize resource utilisation and ensure survival under such
conditions. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a candidate
nutrient-sensing pathway underpinning a form of adaptive plasticity when
individuals encounter constraints in their energy budget. We exposed adult
Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) of both sexes to three dietary
conditions: daily unpredictable feeding, constant restriction, and full
feeding for 16 days. Our study revealed that unpredictability reduced the
body mass of female birds, whereas males remained unaffected. Egg
production traits were not affected by unpredictable feeding. However,
constant dietary restriction had a significant negative impact, suggesting
resource reallocation to reproduction under unpredictable feeding
conditions. We found sex-dependent gene expression patterns of mTOR
pathway genes: while the unpredictable treatment did not affect gene
expression in males, it downregulated MTOR and insulin-like growth
factor-1 (IGF1) and its receptor (IGF1R), and upregulated Unc-51-like
autophagy activating kinase-1 (ULK1) and autophagy-related genes (ATG9A,
ATG5) in females. Additionally, variation in mTOR pathway gene expression
was significantly associated with the effect of treatments on body mass
and egg mass. Our study highlighted molecular mechanisms and adaptive
responses towards dietary unpredictability and scarcity.