Animal study · Aging · 8 Nov 2026
In fruit flies with human Alzheimer-related genes in glia, clearing intestinal microbes worsened amyloid, tau, and learning scores
Source: Gut Microbes
What the research found
A fruit-fly study was published online on 8 November 2026. The print issue is dated 31 December 2026. Keerthi Madamanchi, Girish Melkani, and colleagues used Drosophila that express human Alzheimer-related transgenes in glial cells. Several intestinal taxa changed in abundance, including Lactobacillus, Acetobacter, Enterococcus, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Leuconostoc, Providencia, and Gluconobacter. They then used antibiotics to deplete those microbes. Compared with conventional flies, the depleted flies had more inflammatory signaling and cell death, weaker autophagy, lipid dysregulation, and more amyloid beta-42 and phospho-tau. The size of those changes differed across the fly models. Sleep and circadian timing, locomotion, and learning and memory scores were worse. The authors also tied the inflammatory signal to the buildup of amyloid beta-42, phospho-tau, and APP, the precursor of that amyloid. These are flies, not people. DOI 10.1080/19490976.2026.2753247. Not medical advice.
Evidence level: Animal study. Results in animals or cells often don't carry over to people.
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