Cell recycling controls blood cell balance in fruit flies
The process by which cells break down and recycle their own damaged components plays a key role in maintaining blood cell balance. That is what cell biology research in fruit flies, published in eLife, has found.
Cells have an internal recycling system that degrades unnecessary or damaged components. This process is called autophagy. Researchers found that autophagy in the blood cells of Drosophila fruit flies is essential for maintaining the balance between immature blood cell precursors and mature blood cells. The study shows that two proteins, Gcn5 and mTORC1, regulate this process together.
Gcn5 and mTORC1 as a control switch
Gcn5 is an enzyme that can adjust gene activity by adding chemical tags to DNA packaging proteins. mTORC1 is a well-known sensor of a cell’s nutritional status: when nutrients are plentiful, mTORC1 is active and suppresses autophagy. The experiments showed that the amount of Gcn5 in the fly’s body also responds to dietary changes. Moreover, mTORC1 overrides the effect of Gcn5 when both are manipulated simultaneously.
Diet, cell maintenance and blood cell balance
The results suggest that diet influences, through mTORC1, how well blood cells can maintain themselves. Whether this mechanism also plays a role in humans in blood cell balance or in aging of the blood system is not examined in this study. The research was conducted in fruit flies, not in humans or mice. mTORC1 is well known in longevity literature for its role in aging, but the source does not make that link explicitly.
Search terms to explore further: autophagy hematopoiesis, mTORC1 cell recycling, Gcn5 histone acetyltransferase blood cell development