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

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 th

SUBMITTER: Lee JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11880416 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature