Volume 35, No 3, Mar 2025

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 35 Issue 3, March 2025: 161-162

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

Fine-tuning protein hunger: sex- and mating-dependent setpoint control

Yangkyun Oh^1,* , Won-Jae Lee^2,3,*

¹Department of Life Science, College of Natural Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea
²School of Biological Sciences, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
³Wide River Institute of Immunology, Seoul National University, Hongcheon, South Korea
Correspondence: Yangkyun Oh(yangkyun@ewha.ac.kr)Won-Jae Lee(lwj@snu.ac.kr)

While a balanced intake of macronutrients — carbohydrates, fats, and proteins — is essential for metabolic homeostasis, animals need higher protein intake during critical life stages like pregnancy. A recent paper in Cell by Wu et al. introduces the novel concept of adjusting protein intake setpoints based on sex and mating status, using two opposing G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathways that regulate protein appetite-controlling neurons in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-024-01039-7

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