Lab Lunch at College Town Bagels on 1st May
First day in the new lab, 28 January 2009
Publication: Is the regulation of insulin signaling multi-organismal?
December 13th, 2011
Douglas AE, 2011. Is the regulation of insulin signaling multi-organismal? Science Signaling 4, pe46. Pubmed Link
The Perspective article reviews two important recent publications in the wider context of microbial involvement in animal signaling pathways:
S. C. Shin, S.-H. Kim, H. You, B. Kim, A. C. Kim, K.-A. Lee, J.-H. Yoon, J.-H. Ryu, W.-J. Lee, Drosophila microbiome modulates host developmental and metabolic homeostasis via insulin signaling. Science 334, 670–674 (2011). Text
G. Storelli, A. Defaye, B. Erkosar, P. Hols, J. Royet, F. Leulier, Lactobacillus plantarum promotes Drosophila systemic growth by modulating hormonal signals through TOR-dependent nutrient sensing. Cell Metab. 14, 403–414 (2011). Text
The sustained health of an individual animal depends on the composition
and activities of its resident microbiota. A major challenge is to
identify the processes by which the microbiota and animal interact,
recognizing that this research should lead ultimately to novel
strategies to promote human health. Drosophila is emerging as a
tractable model system to investigate these interactions. New evidence
reveals that the gut microbiota promotes insulin signaling in Drosophila,
leading to increased growth and development rates. Different gut
bacteria and bacterial effectors were implicated: acetic acid produced
by Acetobacter pomorum and branched-chain amino acids produced by Lactobacillus plantarum,
respectively. These findings raise the possibility that multiple
bacterial effectors may interact with signaling networks to shape animal
health.
The figure shows the impact of resident bacteria on insulin signaling in Drosophila. Insulin signaling is promoted, with consequent enhanced larval developmental rates, by acetic acid produced by A. pomorum (Shin et al. 2011) and by L. plantarum (with proposed role of branched-chain amino acids, mediated by TOR signaling) (Storelli et al. 2011) . Dashed lines represent putative interactions.
