Response of the microbiome–gut–brain axis in Drosophila to amino acid deficit

Boram Kim, Makoto I. Kanai, Yangkyun Oh, Minsoo Kyung, Eun-Kyoung Kim, In-Hwan Jang, Ji-Hoon Lee, Sang-Gyu Kim, Greg S. B. Suh () and Won-Jae Lee ()
Additional contact information
Boram Kim: Seoul National University
Makoto I. Kanai: New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Yangkyun Oh: New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Minsoo Kyung: Seoul National University
Eun-Kyoung Kim: Seoul National University
In-Hwan Jang: Seoul National University
Ji-Hoon Lee: Seoul National University
Sang-Gyu Kim: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Greg S. B. Suh: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Won-Jae Lee: Seoul National University

Nature, 2021, vol. 593, issue 7860, 570-574

Abstract: Abstract A balanced intake of macronutrients—protein, carbohydrate and fat—is essential for the well-being of organisms. An adequate calorific intake but with insufficient protein consumption can lead to several ailments, including kwashiorkor1. Taste receptors (T1R1–T1R3)2 can detect amino acids in the environment, and cellular sensors (Gcn2 and Tor)3 monitor the levels of amino acids in the cell. When deprived of dietary protein, animals select a food source that contains a greater proportion of protein or essential amino acids (EAAs)4. This suggests that food selection is geared towards achieving the target amount of a particular macronutrient with assistance of the EAA-specific hunger-driven response, which is poorly understood. Here we show in Drosophila that a microbiome–gut–brain axis detects a deficit of EAAs and stimulates a compensatory appetite for EAAs. We found that the neuropeptide CNMamide (CNMa)5 was highly induced in enterocytes of the anterior midgut during protein deprivation. Silencing of the CNMa–CNMa receptor axis blocked the EAA-specific hunger-driven response in deprived flies. Furthermore, gnotobiotic flies bearing an EAA-producing symbiotic microbiome exhibited a reduced appetite for EAAs. By contrast, gnotobiotic flies with a mutant microbiome that did not produce leucine or other EAAs showed higher expression of CNMa and a greater compensatory appetite for EAAs. We propose that gut enterocytes sense the levels of diet- and microbiome-derived EAAs and communicate the EAA-deprived condition to the brain through CNMa.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03522-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:593:y:2021:i:7860:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03522-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03522-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().