Studying the process of fruit fly larvae becoming pupae can help scientists understand the molecular mechanisms that trigger sexual maturity. Scientists at the Barcelona Institute of Biomedicine conducted experiments on fruit flies under the leadership of Professor Marco Milán and found that miRNA is the key in the delicate relationship between growth and sexual maturity. The article was published in the current Biology magazine of Cell. Biology Tong Milán introduced, "Overgrowth or obesity may lead to precocious puberty in humans and affect people's normal development. This problem is becoming more and more common in today's society. However, people do not yet understand the molecular mechanism behind precocious puberty Drosophila provided us with important clues in this study. "
During the development of multicellular organisms, the activity of systemic signaling molecules controls the growth of the body. Most of these signaling molecules are hormones. They are responsible for coordinating the growth and development of different tissues and can regulate the growth of the body according to changes in the environment. For specific organs, systemic signals and local specific signals jointly regulate growth and development. Say goodbye to BioCom and agarose electrophoresis! The first author of the article, Laura Boulan, analyzed the developmental stages of fruit flies and discovered that a miRNA called bantam mediates the delicate relationship between growth and sexual maturity. The researchers found that insulin, a hormone involved in metabolism and growth, lowers the level of bantam in the cells, resulting in increased levels of steroid hormones (ecdysone). "An increase in steroid hormones can cause growth to stop," Milán said. Although it is known that metabolism, growth, and sexual maturity are related, this study has for the first time clarified the molecular mechanism that plays a decisive role, and pointed out that bantam is the key to regulating related hormones.
In Drosophila, the steroid hormone ecdysone (ecdysone) has a dual role: when its secretion reaches a peak, it will promote sexual maturity, and its secretion is at a basic value to control the growth rate. The insulin / insulin growth factor IGF signaling pathway is quite conservative, and this pathway, together with ecdysone, regulates the growth of Drosophila. Now, research shows that bantam is also involved in this process, it can inhibit the release of ecdysone and promote the growth of fruit flies. The researchers pointed out that insulin signaling can inhibit bantam activity and increase the level of ecdysone, thereby promoting the sexual maturity of fruit flies.
Although there are certain differences between Drosophila and humans, the high degree of genetic similarity and the conservation of many molecular mechanisms allow people to use Drosophila as a model to study complex physiological phenomena. If the various factors in fruit fly research can be found in the human body, it will bring important enlightenment to human health.
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