The insulin-like peptides Dilp2 and Dilp6 exhibit divergent responses to dietary sugar and protein in Drosophila larvae

Significance The Drosophila melanogaster genome encodes multiple insulin-like peptides (Dilps) that bind to a single-known insulin receptor to control growth and metabolism. Here, we show that dietary nutrients regulate two of these hormones, Dilp2 and Dilp6, in opposite ways. Dietary sugar induces secretion of fat body-derived Dilp6 while dietary protein stimulates secretion of brain-derived Dilp2 but suppresses Dilp6. The existence of multiple Dilps that are regulated in divergent ways by distinct stimuli may provide flexibility in the insulin signaling pathway, allowing Drosophila to adapt growth and metabolic processes to prevailing conditions and promoting survival.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

• Publication date

  2025-10-15

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1073/pnas.2426930122PMID 41091757PMCID 12557502
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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