Dataset Information

AMPK supports growth in Drosophila by regulating muscle activity and nutrient uptake in the gut.

ABSTRACT: The larval phase of the Drosophila life cycle is characterized by constant food intake, resulting in a two hundred-fold increase in mass over four days. Here we show that the conserved energy sensor AMPK is essential for nutrient intake in Drosophila. Mutants lacking dAMPKalpha are small, with low triglyceride levels, small fat body cells and early pupal lethality. Using mosaic analysis, we find that dAMPKalpha functions as a nonautonomous regulator of cell growth. Nutrient absorption is impaired in dAMPKalpha mutants, and this defect stems not from altered gut epithelial cell polarity but from impaired peristaltic activity. Expression of a wild-type dAMPKalpha transgene or an activated version of the AMPK target myosin regulatory light chain (MRLC) in the dAMPKalpha mutant visceral musculature restores gut function and growth. These data suggest strongly that AMPK regulates visceral smooth muscle function through phosphorylation of MRLC. Furthermore, our data show that in Drosophila, AMPK performs an essential cell-nonautonomous function, serving the needs of the organism by promoting activity of the visceral musculature and, consequently, nutrient intake.

SUBMITTER: Bland ML

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2909368 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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AMPK supports growth in Drosophila by regulating muscle activity and nutrient uptake in the gut.

Bland Michelle L ML Lee Robert J RJ Magallanes Julie M JM Foskett J Kevin JK Birnbaum Morris J MJ

Developmental biology 20100515 1

The larval phase of the Drosophila life cycle is characterized by constant food intake, resulting in a two hundred-fold increase in mass over four days. Here we show that the conserved energy sensor AMPK is essential for nutrient intake in Drosophila. Mutants lacking dAMPKalpha are small, with low triglyceride levels, small fat body cells and early pupal lethality. Using mosaic analysis, we find that dAMPKalpha functions as a nonautonomous regulator of cell growth. Nutrient absorption is impaire ...[more]

PMID: 20478298

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Project description:Drosophila melanogaster gut microbes play important roles in host nutritional physiology. However, these associations are often indirect, and studies typically are in the context of specialized nutritional conditions, making it difficult to discern how microbiome-mediated impacts translate to physiologically relevant conditions, in the laboratory or nature. In this study, we quantified changes in dietary nutrients due to D. melanogaster gut bacteria on three artificial diets and a natural diet of grapes. We show that under all four diet conditions, bacteria altered the protein, carbohydrates, and moisture of the food substrate. An in-depth analysis of one diet revealed that bacteria also increased the levels of tryptophan, an essential amino acid encountered scarcely in nature. These nutrient changes result in an increased protein-to-carbohydrate (P:C) ratio in all diets, which we hypothesized to be a significant determinant of microbiome-mediated host nutritional physiology. To test this, we compared life history traits of axenic flies reared on the three artificial diets with increased P:C ratios or continuous bacterial inoculation. We found that while on some diets, an environment of nutritional plenitude had impacts on life history, it did not fully explain all microbiome-associated phenotypes. This suggests that other factors, such as micronutrients and feeding behavior, likely also contribute to life history traits in a diet-dependent manner. Thus, while some bacterial impacts on nutrition occur across diets, others are dictated by unique dietary environments, highlighting the importance of diet-microbiome interactions in D. melanogaster nutritional physiology.IMPORTANCE Both in the laboratory and in nature, D. melanogaster-associated microbes serve as nutritional effectors, either through the production of metabolites or as direct sources of protein biomass. The relationship between the microbiome and the resulting host nutritional physiology is significantly impacted by diet composition, yet studies involving D. melanogaster are performed using a wide range of artificial diets, making it difficult to discern which aspects of host-microbe interactions may be universal or diet dependent. In this study, we utilized three standard D. melanogaster diets and a natural grape diet to form a comprehensive understanding of the quantifiable nutritional changes mediated by the host microbial community. We then altered these artificial diets based on the observed microbe-mediated changes to demonstrate their potential to influence host physiology, allowing us to identify nutritional factors whose effects were either universal for the three artificial diets or dependent on host diet composition.

Dataset Information

AMPK supports growth in Drosophila by regulating muscle activity and nutrient uptake in the gut.

Publications

AMPK supports growth in Drosophila by regulating muscle activity and nutrient uptake in the gut.

Similar Datasets

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