Control of feeding by Piezo-mediated gut mechanosensation in Drosophila

  1. Soohong Min
  2. Yangkyun Oh
  3. Pushpa Verma
  4. Samuel C Whitehead
  5. Nilay Yapici
  6. David Van Vactor
  7. Greg SB Suh
  8. Stephen Liberles  Is a corresponding author
  1. Harvard Medical School, United States
  2. Skirball Institute, NYU, United States
  3. Cornell University, United States

Abstract

Across animal species, meals are terminated after ingestion of large food volumes, yet underlying mechanosensory receptors have so far remained elusive. Here, we identify an essential role for Drosophila Piezo in volume-based control of meal size. We discover a rare population of fly neurons that express Piezo, innervate the anterior gut and crop (a food reservoir organ), and respond to tissue distension in a Piezo-dependent manner. Activating Piezo neurons decreases appetite, while Piezo knockout and Piezo neuron silencing cause gut bloating and increase both food consumption and body weight. These studies reveal that disrupting gut distension receptors changes feeding patterns, and identify a key role for Drosophila Piezo in internal organ mechanosensation.

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Article and author information

Author details

  1. Soohong Min

    Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Yangkyun Oh

    Molecular Neurobiology, Skirball Institute, NYU, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Pushpa Verma

    Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Samuel C Whitehead

    Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Nilay Yapici

    Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. David Van Vactor

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Greg SB Suh

    Molecular Neurobiology, Skirball Institute, NYU, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. Stephen Liberles

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    For correspondence
    Stephen_Liberles@hms.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    Stephen Liberles, Reviewing editor, eLife.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2177-9741

Funding

American Heart Association (20POST35210914)

  • Soohong Min

National Institutes of Health (NS090994)

  • David Van Vactor

National Institutes of Health (RO1DK116294)

  • Greg SB Suh

National Institutes of Health (RO1DK106636)

  • Greg SB Suh

Samsung Science and Technology Foundation (SSTF-BA-1802-11)

  • Greg SB Suh

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  • Stephen Liberles

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2021, Min et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Soohong Min
  2. Yangkyun Oh
  3. Pushpa Verma
  4. Samuel C Whitehead
  5. Nilay Yapici
  6. David Van Vactor
  7. Greg SB Suh
  8. Stephen Liberles
(2021)
Control of feeding by Piezo-mediated gut mechanosensation in Drosophila
eLife 10:e63049.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63049

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63049

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