Sex Differences in Intestinal Carbohydrate Metabolism Promote Food Intake and Sperm Maturation.
Physiology and metabolism are often sexually dimorphic, but the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here, we use the intestine of Drosophila melanogaster to investigate how gut-derived signals contribute to sex differences in whole-body physiology. We find that carbohydrate handling is male-biased in a specific portion of the intestine. In contrast to known sexual dimorphisms in invertebrates, the sex differences in intestinal carbohydrate metabolism are extrinsically controlled by the adjacent male gonad, which activates JAK-STAT signaling in enterocytes within this intestinal portion. Sex reversal experiments establish roles for this male-biased intestinal metabolic state in controlling food intake and sperm production through gut-derived citrate. Our work uncovers a male gonad-gut axis coupling diet and sperm production, revealing that metabolic communication across organs is physiologically important. The instructive role of citrate in inter-organ communication might be significant in more biological contexts than previously recognized.
['Hudry|Bruno|B|', 'de Goeij|Eva|E|', 'Mineo|Alessandro|A|', 'Gaspar|Pedro|P|', 'Hadjieconomou|Dafni|D|', 'Studd|Chris|C|', 'Mokochinski|Joao B|JB|', 'Kramer|Holger B|HB|', 'Plaçais|Pierre-Yves|PY|', 'Preat|Thomas|T|', 'Miguel-Aliaga|Irene|I|']
D000818:Animals D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism D019343:Citric Acid D029721:Drosophila Proteins D004331:Drosophila melanogaster D004435:Eating D005260:Female D015870:Gene Expression D007413:Intestinal Mucosa D053612:Janus Kinases D008297:Male D000081246:RNA-Seq D050791:STAT Transcription Factors D012727:Sex Characteristics D015398:Signal Transduction D013079:Sperm Maturation D000073893:Sugars D013737:Testis
intestine carbohydrate metabolism sperm sexual dimorphisms Drosophila gonad citrate gender differences organ plasticity testes