Secreted decoy of insulin receptor is required for blood-brain and blood-retina barrier integrity in Drosophila

Glial cells play important roles during neurogenesis and in maintaining complex functions of the nervous system. Here, we report the characterization of a gene, Sdr, which contains a putative insulin-like growth factor receptor domain and is required to maintain critical nervous system functions in Drosophila. Sdr is expressed in glial cells during embryonic and larval stages of development, but its role in adult flies is poorly understood. As insulin signaling is important throughout the lifespan in human, we investigated the Sdr’s role in adult flies. Our results demonstrate that Sdr is expressed on surface glial cells that surround the nervous system. Mutation of Sdr did not affect development but caused defects in locomotion and lifespan. Sdr mutants also showed increasingly severe defects in the blood-brain- and blood-retina-barriers as they aged. Therefore, we suggest a novel role of Sdr in maintaining the integrity of the blood-brain- and blood-retina-barriers in adult flies.