Cover Story Current Issue

The detrimental effects of sleep loss on glucose tolerance are now well established, and insufficient sleep is a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D). In fact, sleep loss is comparable with other more traditional risk factors that are associated with the development of T2D, such as physical inactivity.

Nicholas J. Saner, Matthew J-C. Lee, Jujiao Kuang, Nathan W. Pitchford, ... Jonathan D. Bartlett

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Current Issue

A multicomponent screen for feeding behaviour and nutritional status in Drosophila to interrogate mammalian appetite-related genes

J. Chalmers, Y.C.L. Tung, C.H. Liu, C.J. O'Kane, ... G.S.H. Yeo

Objective

More than 300 genetic variants have been robustly associated with measures of human adiposity. Highly penetrant mutations causing human obesity do so largely by disrupting satiety pathways in the brain and increasing food intake. Most of the common obesity-predisposing variants are in, or near, genes expressed highly in the brain, but little is known of their function. Exploring the biology of these genes at scale in mammalian systems is challenging. We sought to establish and validate the use of a multicomponent screen for feeding behaviour phenotypes, taking advantage of the tractable model organism Drosophila melanogaster.

Methods

We validated a screen for feeding behaviour in Drosophila by comparing results after disrupting the expression of centrally expressed genes that influence energy balance in flies to those of 10 control genes. We then used this screen to explore the effects of disrupted expression of genes either a) implicated in energy homeostasis through human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or b) expressed and nutritionally responsive in specific populations of hypothalamic neurons with a known role in feeding/fasting.

Results

Using data from the validation study to classify responses, we studied 53 Drosophilaorthologues of genes implicated by human GWAS in body mass index and found that 15 significantly influenced feeding behaviour or energy homeostasis in the Drosophila screen. We then studied 50 Drosophila homologues of 47 murine genes reciprocally nutritionally regulated in POMC and agouti-related peptide neurons. Seven of these 50 genes were found by our screen to influence feeding behaviour in flies.

Conclusion

We demonstrated the utility of Drosophila as a tractable model organism in a high-throughput genetic screen for food intake phenotypes. This simple, cost-efficient strategy is ideal for high-throughput interrogation of genes implicated in feeding behaviour and obesity in mammals and will facilitate the process of reaching a functional understanding of obesity pathogenesis.

 

Articles in Press

A multicomponent screen for feeding behaviour and nutritional status in Drosophila to interrogate mammalian appetite-related genes

J. Chalmers, Y.C.L. Tung, C.H. Liu, C.J. O'Kane, ... G.S.H. Yeo

Objective

More than 300 genetic variants have been robustly associated with measures of human adiposity. Highly penetrant mutations causing human obesity do so largely by disrupting satiety pathways in the brain and increasing food intake. Most of the common obesity-predisposing variants are in, or near, genes expressed highly in the brain, but little is known of their function. Exploring the biology of these genes at scale in mammalian systems is challenging. We sought to establish and validate the use of a multicomponent screen for feeding behaviour phenotypes, taking advantage of the tractable model organism Drosophila melanogaster.

Methods

We validated a screen for feeding behaviour in Drosophila by comparing results after disrupting the expression of centrally expressed genes that influence energy balance in flies to those of 10 control genes. We then used this screen to explore the effects of disrupted expression of genes either a) implicated in energy homeostasis through human genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or b) expressed and nutritionally responsive in specific populations of hypothalamic neurons with a known role in feeding/fasting.

Results

Using data from the validation study to classify responses, we studied 53 Drosophilaorthologues of genes implicated by human GWAS in body mass index and found that 15 significantly influenced feeding behaviour or energy homeostasis in the Drosophila screen. We then studied 50 Drosophila homologues of 47 murine genes reciprocally nutritionally regulated in POMC and agouti-related peptide neurons. Seven of these 50 genes were found by our screen to influence feeding behaviour in flies.

Conclusion

We demonstrated the utility of Drosophila as a tractable model organism in a high-throughput genetic screen for food intake phenotypes. This simple, cost-efficient strategy is ideal for high-throughput interrogation of genes implicated in feeding behaviour and obesity in mammals and will facilitate the process of reaching a functional understanding of obesity pathogenesis.

 

The 60 Second Metabolist

In this section authors briefly report on their work recently published in Molecular Metabolism.

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Chunmei Wang (full article)

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Noora Pöllänen (full article)

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You are what you eat

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