Macrophage metabolic reprogramming during dietary stress influences adult body size in Drosophila.

Abstract

Immune cells are increasingly recognized as nutrient sensors; however, their developmental role in regulating growth under homeostasis or dietary stress remains elusive. Here, we show that Drosophila larval macrophages, in response to excessive dietary sugar (HSD), reprogram their metabolic state by activating glycolysis, thereby enhancing TCA-cycle flux, and increasing lipogenesis-while concurrently maintaining a lipolytic state. Although this immune-metabolic configuration correlates with growth retardation under HSD, our genetic analyses reveal that enhanced lipogenesis supports growth, whereas glycolysis and lipolysis are growth-inhibitory. Notably, promoting immune-driven lipogenesis offsets early growth inhibition in imaginal discs caused by glycolytic and lipolytic immune-metabolic states. Our findings reveal a model of immune-metabolic imbalance, where growth-suppressive states (glycolysis, lipolysis) dominate over a growth-supportive lipogenic state, thereby impairing early organ size control and ultimately affecting adult size. Overall, this study provides important insights into dietary stress-induced immune-metabolic reprogramming and its link to organ size regulation and early developmental plasticity.