Nutrient-responsive midgut turnover is spatially controlled by serotonin signaling

Serotonin signaling via the conserved 5HT7 receptor spatially controls nutrient-responsive homeostatic turnover in the Drosophila midgut epithelium, with high-turnover posterior regions requiring 5HT7.

• Why it matters: Barrier epithelia renew rapidly, but how spatial heterogeneity and nutrient cues coordinate turnover rates is unclear.
• What they did: The study used organ-wide analysis of Drosophila midgut renewal, tracking enterocyte programmed cell death (erebosis) and enteroblast maturation, and tested 5HT7 necessity/sufficiency while profiling downstream metabolic and actin-cytoskeleton gene programs.
• The result: 5HT7 activity promotes enteroblast maturation and migration-associated morphology; sustained disruption causes epithelial multilayering, and 5HT7 regulates serine biosynthesis pathway genes and actin cytoskeleton programs to drive renewal in high-turnover regions.

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