Use of drosophila as an evaluation method reveals imp as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes in rat locus Niddm22

Type 2 diabetes (t2d) is one of the most common human diseases. qtl analysis of the diabetic otsuka long-evans tokushima fatty (oletf) rats has identified numerous hyperglycemic loci. however,molecular characterization and/or gene identification largely remains to be elucidated due mostly to the weak genetic variances contributed by each locus. here we utilized drosophila melanogaster as a secondary model organism for functional evaluation of the candidate gene. we demonstrate that the tissue specific knockdown of a homologue of igf2bp2 rna binding protein leads to increased sugar levels similar to that found in the oletf rat. in the mutant,the expression of two of the insulin-like peptides encoded in the fly genome,dilp2 and dilp3,were found to be downregulated. consistent with previous reports of dilp mutants,the imp mutant flies exhibited an extension of life span; in contrast,starvation tolerance was reduced. these results further reinforce the possibility that imp is involved in sugar metabolism by modulating insulin expression. © 2015 kurenai kawasaki et al.