Food-induced sexual desire: Chinese scientists "Nature" published an article to reveal the aphrodisiac effect of protein

Eating and mating are arguably the most basic two types of behavior for any animal, including humans

In a study published in the journal Nature, Professor Wang Jing's team at the University of California, San Diego, including postdoctoral fellows Lin Huihao and Kwong Meihua, solved the puzzle

The research team found that starving male flies would prefer to eat when faced with food and female flies

▲Amino acids inhibit feeding and increase the desire to mate in male fruit flies (Image source: Reference [1])

What signaling molecule is manipulating this behavioral switch? Previous studies have found that in mammals, some satiety hormones released by endocrine cells in the gastrointestinal tract can promote reproductive behavior, so the research team set out to find clues in the endocrine cells of fruit flies

In order to verify this finding, the research team used CRISPR to knock out the gene that regulates Dh31 in Drosophila.

Further traceability of Dh31 signaling confirmed that the aphrodisiac Dh31 originates in the flies' gut, rather than the imagined brain

▲ The transition from eating to mating requires Dh31 and Dh31 receptors in the gut (Image source: Reference [1])

After entering the brain, Dh31 can activate two types of neurons that express Dh31 receptors, which in turn affect the behavior of flies through two independent neural pathways: one type of neurons inhibits feeding behavior; the other type promotes courtship behavior

So, does this finding in fruit flies apply to mammals? Previous studies have found that in mammals, a neuropeptide molecule plays a similar role in regulating the transition between wakefulness and sleep, including REM sleep and non-REM sleep

There is still a lot of research to be done on the role of gut hormones beyond eating

References:

[1] Lin, HH.

(Original abridged)