Transcriptomic analysis of flies with Yki gut tumors

Purpose: Flies with Yki gut tumors is a widely used Drosophila model of cancer cachexia. Since cancer cachexia is a multi-organ syndrome, its investigation requires understanding how tumors induce metabolic dysfunction in peripheral organs. To address this, we performed a body-wide single-cell transcriptome analysis of Yki tumor model flies. Methods: snRNA-seq analysis of whole-body flies (without heads) with and without Yki gut tumors. Results: The data provides information of transcriptome alternations related to tumor-induced cachexia, including expression of metabolic genes and tumor-host organ communications. Conclusions: Cachexia phenotypes in Yki tumor model flies originated from metabolic dysregulation in peripheral organs that induced by tumor secreted factors. The following genotypes were used: i) control: esg-GAL4, tub-GAL80TS > UAS-GFP. ii) Yki flies: esg-GAL4, tub-GAL80TS > UAS-GFP, UAS-yki3SA. In total, 122,898 nuclei were profiled (25,146 from control and 42,375 from Yki flies at Day 5; 19,050 from control and 36,327 from Yki flies at Day 8).