Texas A&M biologists uncover DAG role in gut motility in fruit flies
Researchers showed how diacylglycerol accumulation in Drosophila enterocytes coordinates visceral muscle contraction and bacterial clearance.
Biologists from Texas A&M University reported in Nature Communications that enteric bacterial infection triggers the accumulation of neutral lipids, specifically 1,2-diacylglycerols (DAGs), in the Drosophila midgut doi.org
Nature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The team demonstrated that this metabolic shift directly regulates intestinal motility and pathogen clearance through gut contractions, modulating host survival outcomes during an active infection.
Lipid accumulation and fly survival
During gut infection, Drosophila enterocytes (ECs) accumulate neutral lipids dominated by 1,2-DAGs. Experimental disruption of DAG biosynthesis or lipid transport pathways specifically within enterocytes impaired this lipid accumulation and caused a decrease in host survival rates doi.org
Nature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. Conversely, dietary lipid supplementation promoted lipid storage in the intestine and improved survival after bacterial exposure, demonstrating a direct correlation between tissue-level lipid reserves and insect defense capability.
PKC activation and pathogen clearance
Mechanistically, accumulated DAGs serve as signaling intermediates that stimulate protein kinase C (PKC) activity doi.org
Nature Communicationsdoi.orgOpen source ↗. The authors found that elevated PKC signaling correlates with altered calcium dynamics in the midgut visceral muscle (VM). This cascade stimulates visceral muscle contraction, accelerating intestinal transit, promoting defecation, and driving physical expulsion of the enteric pathogen from the digestive tract.
