Impact of<i> </i>Probiotic Combination in <i>InR</i>^[E19]/TM2 <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> on Longevity, Related Gene Expression, and Intestinal Microbiota: A Preliminary Study

• Main Authors: Shuang Ma, Hao Sun, Weichao Yang, Mingfu Gao, Hui Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Microorganisms
• Subjects: insulin receptor (InR); probiotic combination; Drosophila melanogaster; lifespan; gut bacteria
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/8/7/1027

The insulin receptor (InR) pertains to the insulin receptor family, which plays a key role in the insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-like signaling (IIS) pathway. Insulin signaling defects may result in the development of metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, and the InR mutant has been suggested to bear insulin signaling deficiency. Numerous studies have reported that probiotics are beneficial for the treatment of diabetes; however, the effect of probiotics on patients with <i>InR</i> deficiency has seldom been reported. Therefore, we chose the<i> </i><i>InR</i>^[E19]/TM2 <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> to investigate. The results indicated that probiotics significantly reduce the mean and median lifespan of<i> </i><i>InR</i>^[E19]/TM2 <i>Drosophila</i> (by 15.56% and 23.82%, respectively), but promote that of wild-type files (by 9.31% and 16.67%, respectively). Significant differences were obtained in the expression of lifespan- and metabolism-related genes, such as <i>Imp-L2</i>, <i>Tor</i>,<i> </i>and <i>GstD2</i>, between the standard diet groups and the probiotics groups. Furthermore, analysis of 16S rDNA via high throughput sequencing revealed that the gut bacterial diversity of <i>Drosophila</i> fed with a probiotic combination also differs from that of <i>Drosophila</i> fed with a standard diet. In summary, these findings indicate that a probiotic combination indeed affects<i> </i><i>InR</i>^[E19]/TM2 Drosophila, but not all of its impacts are positive.