Macrophage metabolic reprogramming during dietary stress influences adult body size in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Immune cells are increasingly recognized as nutrient sensors; however, their developmental role in regulating growth under homeostasis or dietary stress remains elusive. Here, we show that Drosophila larval macrophages, in response to excessive dietary sugar (HSD), reprogram their metabolic state by activating glycolysis, thereby enhancing TCA-cycle flux, and increasing lipogenesis-while concurrently maintaining a lipolytic state. Although this immune-metabolic configuration correlates with growth retardation under HSD, our genetic analyses reveal that enhanced lipogenesis supports growth, whereas glycolysis and lipolysis are growth-inhibitory. Notably, promoting immune-driven lipogenesis offsets early growth inhibition in imaginal discs caused by glycolytic and lipolytic immune-metabolic

SUBMITTER: Mahanta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12635341 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature