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Succinate: a microbial product that modulates Drosophila nutritional physiology
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Insect Science
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2021-02-24
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Gut microorganisms process food in animal guts and release many metabolic by-products, which are predicted to influence host physiological processes such as energy and lipid metabolism. Here, we investigate how succinate, a TCA cycle intermediate that is a major predicted release product of gut bacteria in Drosophila, influences the nutritional physiology of its Drosophila host. We administered succinate as a dietary supplement to microbe- free Drosophila, and quantified key nutritional indices. Dietary succinate significantly reduced fly lipid levels by up to ∼50%. This response was not replicated in parallel experiments conducted with dietary fumarate supplement, indicating that it could not be attributed to a general effect of TCA intermediates. We hypothesize that microbe-derived succinate may contribute to the reduced lipid content of Drosophila bearing gut bacteria, relative to axenic Drosophila. More generally, this study high- lights the importance of microbial-derived metabolites as regulators of host metabolism.
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Zhang, F. Q., McMullen, J. G., Douglas, A. E., & Ankrah, N. Y. D. (2021). Succinate: A microbial product that modulates Drosophila nutritional physiology. Insect Science, 1744-7917.12905. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12905