Drosophila Model for Studying Gut Microbiota in Behaviors and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Abstract

Mounting evidence indicates that the gut microbiota is linked to several physiological processes and disease development in mammals; however, the underlying mechanisms remained unexplored mostly due to the complexity of the mammalian gut microbiome. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a valuable animal model for studying host-gut microbiota interactions in translational aspects. The availability of powerful genetic tools and resources in Drosophila allowed the scientists to unravel the mechanisms by which the gut microbes affect fitness, health, and behavior of their hosts. Drosophila models have been extensively used not only to study animal behaviors (i.e., courtship, aggression, sleep, and learning & memory), but also some human related neurodegenerative diseases (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease) in the past. This review comprehensively summarizes the current understanding of the gut microbiota of Drosophila and its impact on fly behavior, physiology, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Using Drosophila melanogaster as a suitable platform for drug discovery from natural products in inflammatory bowel disease

“…An ideal drug-screening model should be highly manipulable while reflecting human biology ( Hergovich et al, 2006 ). Fruit fly has been universally used by researchers to investigate genetics and human diseases, such as neurodeneration, cancer, and nociception ( Hwang and Lu, 2013 ; Kitani-Morii et al, 2021 ; Chiang et al, 2022 ; He et al, 2022 ). Compared to cell culture model, fruit fly is a complex “whole animal” model with organs and tissue systems functioning synergistically.…”

Insect Models in Nutrition Research

“…Even so, the composition, abundance and function of different bacteria change during aging [ 146 , 151 ], and the age-related disruption of the gut microbiome can affect health and lead to a shorter lifespan [ 152 ]. The underlying mechanisms are unclear, and better models are therefore required [ 153 ]. Drosophila is a valuable insect model to study the interaction between gut microbes, the immune system and aging in humans because the Drosophila gastrointestinal tract is similar to its mammalian counterpart [ 146 , 151 ].…”

“…Impressively, the characterization of microbes and regenerative stem cells in the Drosophila gut has led to the use of Drosophila as a model to study the regulation of the gut epithelium and its microbiome [ 154 ]. Although Drosophila gut microbes do not mimic the human gut microbiome directly, they are sufficient to investigate how the microbiome affects health and behavior [ 155 , 156 ], facilitated by the genetic tools and resources available in Drosophila [ 153 ]. For example, Drosophila hosts only a small number of bacterial populations in its gut, including species also present in the human microbiome [ 157 ].…”

Sex-dependent gut microbiota-brain-cognition associations: a multimodal MRI study

“…Increasing evidence endorses the notion that there is bidirectional communication between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system through the microbiota-gut-brain axis [ 1 – 3 ]. On one hand, the gut microbiome can influence the development, aging and neurodegeneration of the brain, which in turn could have consequences for subsequent behavior [ 4 ]. A plausible explanation lies in the fact that gut bacteria are capable of synthesizing and releasing various metabolites including neuropeptides and neurotransmitters [ 5 ], which might signal to the brain via nervous, endocrine, and immune systems.…”