<i>Drosophila</i> STING protein has a role in lipid metabolism.

Abstract

Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) plays an important role in innate immunity by controlling type I interferon response against invaded pathogens. In this work, we describe a previously unknown role of STING in lipid metabolism in <i>Drosophila</i>. Flies with <i>STING</i> deletion are sensitive to starvation and oxidative stress, have reduced lipid storage, and downregulated expression of lipid metabolism genes. We found that <i>Drosophila</i> STING interacts with lipid synthesizing enzymes acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FASN). ACC and FASN also interact with each other, indicating that all three proteins may be components of a large multi-enzyme complex. The deletion of <i>Drosophila STING</i> leads to disturbed ACC localization and decreased FASN enzyme activity. Together, our results demonstrate a previously undescribed role of STING in lipid metabolism in <i>Drosophila</i>.