Activation of innate immune signalling during development predisposes to inflammatory intestine and shortened lifespan

Abstract

Early-life inflammatory response is associated with risks of age-related pathologies. How transient immune signalling activity during animal development influences life-long fitness is not well understood. Using Drosophila as a model, we find that activation of innate immune pathway IMD signalling in the developing larvae increases adult starvation resistance, decreases food intake, and shortens organismal lifespan. Interestingly, lifespan is shortened by the IMD activation in the larval gut and fat body, while starvation resistance and food intake are altered by that in neurons. The adult flies developed with IMD activation show sustained IMD activity in the gut, despite complete tissue renewal during metamorphosis. The inflammatory adult gut is associated with a greater amount of Gluconobacter sp., characteristic gut microbiota increased in response to immune activation. Removing gut microbiota by antibiotics attenuates the increase of IMD activity and rescues the shortened lifespan. This study demonstrates a tissue-specific programming effect of early-life immune activation on the adult physiology and organismal lifespan.