Eating well to grow well: discovery of a missing link

Rénald Delanoue, Inserm Researcher, and his colleagues at the Institute of Biology Valrose in Nice (Inserm-CNRS-Université Côte d'Azur) have identified the missing links in the process that regulates the size of an organism based on the richness of its diet. Their research was conducted on Drosophila , an insect that seems very distant from humans, but the study of which has nonetheless enabled many advances in biomedical research. The size of an organism depends on its nutrient intake during development. In the event of a nutrient deficiency during this period, animals modify their growth and become adults of small size, while retaining the correct proportions. This coupling between nutrition and growth involves hormones from the insulin family and IGFs (insulin growth factors); however, the molecular mechanisms that govern this regulation are still not well understood. Work done by Inserm researchers at the Institute of Biology Valrose (Inserm-CNRS-UCA) has enabled the identification of the substances on which this coupling is based at molecular level in the fruit fly ( Drosophila melanogaster ). Despite 700 million years of evolutionary divergence, this insect is a relevant model for biomedical research, because it possesses the same physiological processes as mammals.