The role of gut microbiota in aging and aging related neurodegenerative disorders: Insights from drosophila model

Abstract

Aging is characterized by a time dependent impairment of physiological function and increased susceptibility to death. It is the major risk factor for neurodegeneration. Neurodegenera-tive disorders including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the main causes of dementia in the old population. Gut microbiota is a community of microorganisms colonized in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The alteration of gut microbiota has been proved to be associated with aging and aging related neurodegeneration. Drosophila is a powerful tool to study microbiota‐me-diated physiological and pathological functions. Here, we summarize the recent advances using Drosophila as model organisms to clarify the molecular mechanisms and develop a therapeutic method targeting microbiota in aging and aging‐related neurodegenerative disorders.