News Finding: They found that the so-called bacterial load increased as the fly aged, unraveling the symbiotic relationship between the microorganisms and the absorptive cells lining its guts.
Paper Finding: Our study demonstrates that regulating host/commensal interactions in barrier epithelia can significantly delay age-related pathologies and extend lifespan.
News Context: "It puts these changes into a hierarchical, causal relationship and highlights the points where we can intervene to rescue the negative results of microbial imbalance." They found that the so-called bacterial load increased as the fly aged, unraveling the symbiotic relationship between the microorganisms and the absorptive cells lining its guts. The resulting imbalance, which over time triggered an inflammatory response, was shown to be the result of an overzealous stress gene called FOXO.
Paper Context: Further studies are needed to resolve this question. Our study demonstrates that regulating host/commensal interactions in barrier epithelia can significantly delay age-related pathologies and extend lifespan. We show here, however, that lifespan extension can be achieved by improving innate immune homeostasis to stabilize the gut microbiota rather than by eliminating all bacteria from the gut.