Microbiome-emitted scents activate olfactory neuron-independent airway-gut-brain axis to promote host growth in Drosophila. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • While it is now accepted that the microbiome has strong impacts on animal growth promotion, the exact mechanism has remained elusive. Here we show that microbiome-emitted scents contain volatile somatotrophic factors (VSFs), which promote host growth in an olfaction-independent manner in Drosophila. We found that inhaled VSFs are readily sensed by olfactory receptor 42b non-neuronally expressed in subsets of tracheal airway cells, enteroendocrine cells, and enterocytes. Olfaction-independent sensing of VSFs activates the airway-gut-brain axis by regulating Hippo, FGF and insulin-like growth factor signaling pathways, which are required for airway branching, organ oxygenation and body growth. We found that a mutant microbiome that did not produce (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol failed to activate the airway-gut-brain axis for host growth. Importantly, forced inhalation of (2R,3R)-2,3-butanediol completely reversed these defects. Our discovery of contact-independent and olfaction-independent airborne interactions between host and microbiome provides a novel perspective on the role of the airway-gut-brain axis in microbiome-controlled host development.

publication date

  • March 4, 2025

Research

keywords

  • Brain
  • Brain-Gut Axis
  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Microbiota
  • Olfactory Receptor Neurons

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC11880416

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 86000068618

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/s41467-025-57484-4

PubMed ID

  • 40038269

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 16

issue

  • 1