We saw that the organization of the intestinal epithelium was disrupted in Drosophila A virus-infected flies. The guts of these flies also resembled those of aged flies - consistently high levels of intestinal stem cell proliferation and accumulation of Escargot + cells. 4/11

We wondered if increased cellular turnover is an antiviral mechanism or a tolerance strategy that is required to repair damage caused by viral infection. To our surprise, inhibiting intestinal stem cell proliferation actually prolonged the lifespan of infected flies!  5/11