Insulin/IGF signaling and its regulation in Drosophila

•Insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) is evolutionarily conserved.•IIS regulates growth, metabolism, stress responses, fecundity and lifespan.•These aspects of the life history are regulated in diapause.•IIS is also implicated in modulation of behavior.

Taking advantage of Drosophila as a genetically tractable experimental animal much progress has been made in our understanding of how the insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) pathway regulates development, growth, metabolism, stress responses and lifespan. The role of IIS in regulation of neuronal activity and behavior has also become apparent from experiments in Drosophila. This review briefly summarizes these functional roles of IIS, and also how the insulin producing cells (IPCs) are regulated in the fly. Furthermore, we discuss functional aspects of the spatio-temporal production of eight different insulin-like peptides (DILP1-8) that are thought to act on one known receptor (dInR) in Drosophila.