Study On The Mechanism Of Piwi And Iron Metabolism In Drosophila Fat Body

Iron is one of the trace elements necessary for the human body.Studies have shown that inadequate or excessive intake of iron in the diet can cause an imbalance in the body's iron homeostasis,which can cause a series of health problems.Therefore,research on how the body regulates iron metabolism is of great significance for the research and development of new functional iron supplement foods to improve the health problems caused by insufficient dietary iron intake.piwi protein was first discovered in Drosophila,which was mainly expressed in the reproductive system.By combining with non-coding small molecule RNA-pi RNA to form a piwi/pi RNA "machine",it affects the asymmetric division of Drosophila reproductive stem cells,but the mechanism underlying it is not clear.Early research in our laboratory identified the molecular function of a gene ZIP13,which is involved in iron metabolism.It has been reported that there is a genetic interaction between piwi and ZIP13.Therefore,is piwi involved in iron metabolism? How it participates in iron metabolism? It is still unclear,the solution of these problems will help to understand the molecular mechanism of the physiological processes in which piwi participates.Fat body is an important organ of iron metabolism,and recent studies have shown that piwi is expressed in fat body.Therefore,in this work,we use the Drosophila model to investigate whether piwi is involved in iron metabolism in fat bodies.Our main research content and results are as follows:(1)The expression abundance of piwi in different tissues of Drosophila.The experiments found that piwi is mainly expressed in the ovary of Drosophila,and a small amount is expressed in fat body.(2)Interfering with piwi expression in fat body will affect the growth and reproduction ability of Drosophila.Experiments have found that interfering with piwi in fat body can lead to a reduction in pupation rate,eclosion rate,longevity of Drosophila melanogaster and defects in ovarian development.(3)Piwi responds to changes in dietary iron and affects iron metabolism gene expression.Experiments have found that iron supplementation in the diet can promote the expression of piwi,while chelating iron in the diet can inhibit the expression of piwi.In addition,interfering with piwi in fat body will reduce Mvl and Tsf1 m RNA levels and increase ZIP13 m RNA levels.Mvl-OE can save phenotypes such as pupation rate,eclosion rate,longevity,spawning and ovarian development;ZIP13-OE and Tsf1-RNAi will aggravate the above phenotypes;(4)Iron metabolism genes can affect the phenotype of piwi-RNAi by affecting the distribution of iron in mitochondria.piwi-RNAi leads to accumulation of mitochondrial iron in fat body,which leads to increased activity of complex enzyme ?.Mvl-OE can save the phenotype of piwi-RNAi by reducing the accumulation of iron in mitochondria and reducing the activity of complex enzyme ?;ZIP13-OE and Tsf1-RNAi can increase the piwi-RNAi phenotype by increasing iron and complex enzyme ? activity in mitochondria.In summary,the research of this topic shows that the expression of piwi in fat body is regulated by dietary iron levels.piwi affects iron metabolism by affecting the distribution of iron in mitochondria in Drosophila fat body.Reproduction is necessary for the development of Drosophila.On the one hand,this study enriches the functional research of piwi outside the gonadal tissue,on the other hand,it provides important clues to the regulation process of iron metabolism,and provides important ideas for people to better understand the mechanism of iron metabolism and develop corresponding functional foods.