title: Physiological Adaptations to Sugar Intake: New Paradigms from Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Sugars are important energy sources, but high sugar intake poses a metabolic challenge and leads to diseases. Drosophila melanogaster is a generalist fruit breeder that encounters high levels of dietary sugars in its natural habitat. Consequently, Drosophila displays adaptive responses to dietary sugars, including highly conserved and unique metabolic adaptations not described in mammals. Carbohydrate homeostasis is maintained by a network comprising intracellular energy sensors, transcriptional regulators, and hormonal and neuronal mechanisms that together coordinate animal behavior, gut function, and metabolic flux. Here we give an overview of the physiological responses associated with sugar intake and discuss some of the emerging themes and applications of the Drosophila model in understanding sugar sensing and carbohydrate metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, EPFL, Station 19, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: chng.alfred@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Wen-Bin Alfred
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Chng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland; Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, 00790 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Ville
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Hietakangas
authors.affiliation: Global Health Institute, School of Life Sciences, EPFL, Station 19, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: bruno.lemaitre@epfl.ch.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lemaitre
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins
keywords: Drosophila; carbohydrate metabolism; dietary sugar; sugar sensing