TY - JOUR
T1 - Ap-let neurons - A peptidergic circuit potentially controlling ecdysial behavior in Drosophila
AU - Park, Dongkook
AU - Han, Mei
AU - Kim, Young Cho
AU - Han, Kyung An
AU - Taghert, Paul H.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ilyana Martinez-Cosme (supported by a NSF Summer REU fellowship) for assistance. We thank Rick Levine for sharing a preprint of unpublished results. We are grateful to Stefan Thor, Douglas Allan, and John Thomas for Drosophila stocks, and for help in the interpretation of apterous expression patterns. We thank Allison Chin, Richard Scheller, Iris Lindberg, John Ewer, and Anton Roebroeck for providing antibodies. We thank John Ewer, Randy Hewes, and Stefan Thor for comments on a draft of this manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the NINDS to KAH (#NS038346) and to PHT (#NS21749).
PY - 2004/5/1
Y1 - 2004/5/1
N2 - Here we describe a novel set of peptidergic neurons conserved throughout all developmental stages in the Drosophila central nervous system (CNS). We show that a small complement of 28 apterous-expressing cells (Ap-let neurons) in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Drosophila larvae co-express numerous gene products. The products include the neuroendocrine-specific bHLH regulator called Dimmed (Dimm), four neuropeptide biosynthetic enzymes (PC2, Fur1, PAL2, and PHM), and a specific dopamine receptor subtype (dDA1). For the PC2, Fur1, and PAL2 enzymes, and for the dDA1 receptor, this neuronal pattern represents the vast majority of their total expression in the VNC. In addition, while Dimm and PHM are present in the peritracheal Inka cells in larvae, pupae, and adults, Ap, PC2, Fur1, PAL2, and dDA1 are not. PC2, PAL2, and DA1 receptor expression were all controled by both dimm and ap. Previous genetic analysis of animals deficient in PC2 revealed an abnormal larval ecdysis phenotype. Together, these data support the hypothesis that the small cohort of Ap-let interneurons regulates larval ecdysis behavior by secretion of an unidentified amidated peptide(s). This hypothesis further predicts that the production of the Ap-let neuropeptide(s) is dependent on each of four specific enzymes, and that a certain aspect(s) of its production and/or release is regulated by dopamine input.
AB - Here we describe a novel set of peptidergic neurons conserved throughout all developmental stages in the Drosophila central nervous system (CNS). We show that a small complement of 28 apterous-expressing cells (Ap-let neurons) in the ventral nerve cord (VNC) of Drosophila larvae co-express numerous gene products. The products include the neuroendocrine-specific bHLH regulator called Dimmed (Dimm), four neuropeptide biosynthetic enzymes (PC2, Fur1, PAL2, and PHM), and a specific dopamine receptor subtype (dDA1). For the PC2, Fur1, and PAL2 enzymes, and for the dDA1 receptor, this neuronal pattern represents the vast majority of their total expression in the VNC. In addition, while Dimm and PHM are present in the peritracheal Inka cells in larvae, pupae, and adults, Ap, PC2, Fur1, PAL2, and dDA1 are not. PC2, PAL2, and DA1 receptor expression were all controled by both dimm and ap. Previous genetic analysis of animals deficient in PC2 revealed an abnormal larval ecdysis phenotype. Together, these data support the hypothesis that the small cohort of Ap-let interneurons regulates larval ecdysis behavior by secretion of an unidentified amidated peptide(s). This hypothesis further predicts that the production of the Ap-let neuropeptide(s) is dependent on each of four specific enzymes, and that a certain aspect(s) of its production and/or release is regulated by dopamine input.
KW - Apterous
KW - Dimmed
KW - Dopamine receptor
KW - Drosophila
KW - Ecdysis
KW - Furin1
KW - Neuropeptides
KW - PAL
KW - PC2
KW - PHM
KW - dDa1
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=1842766243&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.01.015
DO - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.01.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 15081360
AN - SCOPUS:1842766243
SN - 0012-1606
VL - 269
SP - 95
EP - 108
JO - Developmental Biology
JF - Developmental Biology
IS - 1
ER -