RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Glucose modulates Drosophila longevity and immunity independent of the microbiota JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 027326 DO 10.1101/027326 A1 Anthony Galenza A1 Jaclyn Hutchinson A1 Bart Hazes A1 Shelagh D. Campbell A1 Edan Foley YR 2015 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/09/22/027326.abstract AB The acquisition of nutrients is essential for maintenance of metabolic processes in all organisms. Nutritional imbalance contributes to myriad metabolic disorders that include malnutrition, diabetes, and even cancer. Recently, the importance of macronutrient ratio of food has emerged as a critical factor to determine health outcomes. Here we show that individual modifications to a completely defined diet markedly impact multiple aspects of organism wellbeing in Drosophila melanogaster. Through a longitudinal survey of several diets we demonstrate that increased levels of dietary glucose significantly improve longevity and immunity in adult Drosophila. Our metagenomic studies, show that relative macronutrient levels not only influence the host, but also have a profound impact on microbiota composition. However, we found that elevated dietary glucose extended the lifespan of adult flies even when raised in a germ-free environment. Furthermore, when challenged with a chronic enteric infection, flies fed a diet with added glucose had increased survival times even in the absence of an intact microbiota. Thus, in contrast to known links between the microbiota and animal health, our findings uncover a novel microbiota-independent response to diet that impacts host wellbeing. As dietary responses are highly conserved in animals, we believe our results offer a general understanding of the association between glucose metabolism and animal health.