Scientists have found a gut molecule, found in protein-rich foods, that activates the feeding-to-mating switch.

The link between diet and courtship isn’t limited to humans; it can be found in animals from all over the world. However, until recently, there was no evidence of direct physiological connections between food consumption and reproductive behavior.

According to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, a molecule produced from the gut following a meal directs fruit flies’ attention away from eating and towards mating.

The researchers observed that protein-rich meal causes the release of diuretic hormone 31, or “Dh31,” a signaling molecule revealed to be secreted from the fly’s gastrointestinal tract, according to a study published in the journal Nature.

Beyond eating behavior, their discovery of Dh31, a neuropeptide considered to be a form of chemical messenger, opens the door to a largely untapped region of gut-to-brain communication.

“We found the transition from feeding to mating and were very surprised that a single molecule would have such a profound influence on behavior decisions,” says Jing Wang, the study’s senior author. “Our study provides a mechanistic explanation of how the Dh31 neuropeptide acts on the brain to change the motivational drive of two evolutionarily critical behaviors.”

To be sure, the scientists used genetics to remove Dh31 from fruit flies as a test subject. In these circumstances, the flies continued to forage while avoiding mating. They triggered Dh31 in additional trials and discovered that the flies quickly switched to courtship. Instead of the brain, where they expected the molecule to be released, they discovered Dh31 in the gut of the fly.

“These results indicate that Dh31 is a signaling molecule that reorders the priority of these two contending behaviors: feeding over courtship in the absence of Dh31 and courtship over feeding when Dh31 is released from the gut,” adds Wang.

The researchers went on to compare Dh31’s function as a signaling molecule to that of a signaling molecule. In mammals, orexin, a neuropeptide molecule, has been shown to serve a comparable role in the transition from waking to sleep patterns, including REM and non-REM sleep.

These investigations shed light on how animals make decisions when switching from one survival activity, such as food intake, to another fundamental behavior, such as courtship. Wang claims that their findings merely scratch the surface of what is known about how gut hormones work outside of meals. Future research will look into how microbiomes play a role in gut-brain connection.

“This work embodies a multidisciplinary approach to understand behavioral prioritization at multiple levels, from molecules to neurons and circuit function,” says Wang, adding “this line of work provides us with an empirical paradigm to study the hierarchical organization of different need-based behaviors, a framework established by Abraham Maslow 80 years ago to explain the orderly transition of human behaviors.”

Source: 10.1038/s41586-022-04408-7

Image Credit: Getty

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