title: Nutrient control of Drosophila longevity.
abstract: Dietary restriction (DR) extends the lifespan of many animals, including Drosophila melanogaster. Recent work with flies shows that longevity is controlled by the ratio of consumed protein relative to carbohydrates. Given that reduced insulin and/or insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling increase Drosophila lifespan, these pathways are candidate mediators of DR. However, this idea has ambiguous experimental support. The Nutritional Geometric Framework (NGF), which dissects the impact of nutrient protein relative to carbohydrates, may provide an approach to resolving the roles for these pathways in DR. Nutrient sensing of protein and carbohydrate may occur in the fat body through signals to hypothalamic-like neurons in the fly brain and, thus, control secretion of insulin-like peptides that regulate longevity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence RI 02912, USA. Electronic address: Marc_Tatar@Brown.edu.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatar
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence RI 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Post
authors.affiliation: Neurophysiology Research Group, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejon, 305-806, Korea.
authors.forename: Kweon
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004435:Eating; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008136:Longevity / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013002:Somatomedins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007328:Insulin; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D013002:Somatomedins
keywords: TOR; aging; dietary restriction; geometric framework; insulin/IGF signaling; lifespan extension