scholarly journals Neuroendocrine Control of Drosophila Larval Light Preference

Science ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 341 (6150) ◽  
pp. 1113-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoki Yamanaka ◽  
Nuria M. Romero ◽  
Francisco A. Martin ◽  
Kim F. Rewitz ◽  
Mu Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Juvenile Stage ◽  
Neuroendocrine Control ◽  
Animal Development ◽  
Bolwig's Organ ◽  
Innate Behaviors ◽  
Light Avoidance ◽  
Light Preference ◽  
Class Iv

Animal development is coupled with innate behaviors that maximize chances of survival. Here, we show that the prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), a neuropeptide that controls the developmental transition from juvenile stage to sexual maturation, also regulates light avoidance in Drosophila melanogaster larvae. PTTH, through its receptor Torso, acts on two light sensors—the Bolwig’s organ and the peripheral class IV dendritic arborization neurons—to regulate light avoidance. We found that PTTH concomitantly promotes steroidogenesis and light avoidance at the end of larval stage, driving animals toward a darker environment to initiate the immobile maturation phase. Thus, PTTH controls the decisions of when and where animals undergo metamorphosis, optimizing conditions for adult development.

scholarly journals Effect of genes, social experience, and their interaction on the courtship behaviour of transgenic Drosophila males

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLAS SVETEC ◽  
BENJAMIN HOUOT ◽  
JEAN-FRANÇOIS FERVEUR
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Strong Interaction ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Courtship Behaviour ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Variable Effect ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
And Control ◽  
Transgenic Drosophila

Behaviour depends (a) on genes that specify the neural and non-neural elements involved in the perception of and responses to sensory stimuli and (b) on experience that can modulate the fine development of these elements. We exposed transgenic and control Drosophila melanogaster males, and their hybrids, to male siblings during adult development and measured the contribution of genes and of experience to their courtship behaviour. The transgene CheB42a specifically targets male gustatory sensillae and alters the perception of male inhibitory pheromones which leads to frequent male–male interactions. The age at which social experience occurred and the genotype of tester males induced a variable effect on the intensity of male homo- and heterosexual courtship. The strong interaction between the effects of genes and of social experience reveals the plasticity of the apparently stereotyped elements involved in male courtship behaviour. Finally, a high intensity of homosexual courtship was found only in males that simultaneously carried a mutation in their white gene and the CheB42a transgene.

scholarly journals Drosophila menthol sensitivity and the Precambrian origins of TRP-dependent chemosensation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel J. Himmel ◽  
Jamin M. Letcher ◽  
Akira Sakurai ◽  
Thomas R. Gray ◽  
Maggie N. Benson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Topical Application ◽  
Transient Receptor Potential ◽  
Trp Channels ◽  
Receptor Potential ◽  
Cation Channels ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Sensitivity Studies ◽  
Transient Receptor ◽  
Class Iv

AbstractTransient receptor potential (TRP) cation channels are highly conserved, polymodal sensors which respond to a wide variety of stimuli. Perhaps most notably, TRP channels serve critical functions in nociception and pain. A growing body of evidence suggests that TRPM (Melastatin) and TRPA (Ankyrin) thermal and electrophile sensitivities predate the protostome-deuterostome split (>550 million years ago). However, TRPM and TRPA channels are also thought to detect modified terpenes (e.g., menthol). Although terpenoids like menthol are thought to be aversive and/or harmful to insects, mechanistic sensitivity studies have been largely restricted to chordates. Furthermore, it is unknown if TRP-menthol sensing is as ancient as thermal and/or electrophile sensitivity. Combining genetic, optical, electrophysiological, behavioural, and phylogenetic approaches, we tested the hypothesis that insect TRP channels play a conserved role in menthol sensing. We found that topical application of menthol to Drosophila melanogaster larvae elicits a Trpm- and TrpA1-dependent nocifensive rolling behaviour, which requires activation of Class IV nociceptor neurons. Further, in characterizing the evolution of TRP channels, we put forth the hypotheses that 3 previously undescribed TRPM channel clades (basal, αTRPM, and βTRPM), as well as TRPs with residues critical for menthol sensing, were present in ancestral bilaterians.

scholarly journals Role of Critical Size on Adult life History Traits in Drosophila Melanogaster.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushboo Sharma ◽  
Mallikarjun N. Shakarad
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Critical Size ◽  
Adult Life ◽  
Life Time ◽  
Critical Duration ◽  
Feeding Duration ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Access To Food

Abstract BackgroundSilver-spoon hypothesis suggests that fitness of individuals is high under good adult conditions provided their development itself has been in good conditions and those who have grown in resource-poor conditions are at a permanent disadvantage. Using two types of Drosophila melanogaster populations grown under two conditions we tested the validity of silver-spoon hypothesis. Three populations were selected for faster pre-adult development as a result of which they had access to food for a shorter duration while the three control populations had access to food for longer duration as growing larvae. In the second set-up the access to food was curtailed immediately on attainment of critical size. We assessed biomolecule levels, copulation latency, copulation duration, life-time realized oviposition and longevity to validate the silver-spoon hypothesis. ResultsRestricted feeding duration as a consequence of selection for faster per-adult development had no fitness consequences in selected populations. However, starvation during post-critical duration resulted in reduced fitness. ConclusionOur results show that the silver-spoon model is applicable only under extreme nutrition curtailment and not applicable to biological systems that have genetically evolved to limit food intake.

scholarly journals Evolution of reduced minimum critical size as a response to selection for rapid pre-adult development in Drosophila melanogaster

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 191910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushboo Sharma ◽  
Nalini Mishra ◽  
Mallikarjun N. Shakarad
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Critical Size ◽  
Food Limitation ◽  
Larval Growth ◽  
Critical Duration ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Time Duration ◽  
Critical Weight ◽  
Selection For

Adult body size in holometabolus insects is directly proportional to the time spent during the larval period. The larval duration can be divided into two parts: (i) pre-critical duration—time required to attain a critical size/critical weight that would result in successful completion of development and metamorphosis even under non-availability of nutrition beyond the time of attainment of critical size, and (ii) post-critical duration—the time duration from the attainment of critical size till pupation. It is of interest to decipher the relative contribution of the two larval growth phases (from the hatching of the egg to the attainment of critical size, and from the attainment of critical size to pupation) to the final adult size. Many studies using Drosophila melanogaster have shown that selecting populations for faster development results in the emergence of small adults. Some of these studies have indirectly reported the evolution of smaller critical size. Using two kinds of D. melanogaster populations, one of which is selected for faster/accelerated pre-adult development and the other their ancestral control, we demonstrate that the final adult size is determined by the time spent as larvae post the attainment of critical size despite having increased growth rate during the second larval instar. Our populations under selection for faster pre-adult development are exhibiting adaptive bailout due to intrinsic food limitation as against extrinsic food limitation in the yellow dung fly.

scholarly journals Regulation of Notch Signaling by a Novel Mechanism Involving Suppressor of Hairless Stability and Carboxyl Terminus-Truncated Notch

2003 ◽  
Vol 23 (16) ◽  
pp. 5581-5593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cedric S. Wesley ◽  
Lee-Peng Mok
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Notch Signaling ◽  
Full Length ◽  
Carboxyl Terminus ◽  
Animal Development ◽  
Suppressor Of Hairless ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Different Tissues

ABSTRACT Different amounts of Suppressor of Hairless (SuH)-dependent Notch (N) signaling is often used during animal development to produce two different tissues from a population of equipotent cells. During Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis, cells with high amounts of this signaling differentiate the larval epidermis whereas cells with low amounts, or none, differentiate the central nervous system (CNS). The mechanism by which SuH-dependent N signaling is increased or decreased in these different cells is obscure. The developing epidermis is known to get enriched for the full-length N (NFull) and the developing CNS for the carboxyl terminus-truncated N (NΔCterm). Results described here indicate that this differential accumulation of N receptors is part of a mechanism that would promote SuH-dependent N signaling in the developing epidermis but suppress it in the developing CNS. This mechanism involves SuH-dependent stability of NFull, NFull-dependent accumulation of SuH, stage specific stability of SuH, and NΔCterm-dependent loss of SuH and NFull.

scholarly journals Gain of cis-regulatory activities underlies novel domains of wingless gene expression in Drosophila

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (24) ◽  
pp. 7524-7529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeyuki Koshikawa ◽  
Matt W. Giorgianni ◽  
Kathy Vaccaro ◽  
Victoria A. Kassner ◽  
John H. Yoder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Regulatory Sequences ◽  
Animal Development ◽  
Functional Conservation ◽  
Common Path ◽  
Molecular Events ◽  
New Gene

Changes in gene expression during animal development are largely responsible for the evolution of morphological diversity. However, the genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for the origins of new gene-expression domains have been difficult to elucidate. Here, we sought to identify molecular events underlying the origins of three novel features of wingless (wg) gene expression that are associated with distinct pigmentation patterns in Drosophila guttifera. We compared the activity of cis-regulatory sequences (enhancers) across the wg locus in D. guttifera and Drosophila melanogaster and found strong functional conservation among the enhancers that control similar patterns of wg expression in larval imaginal discs that are essential for appendage development. For pupal tissues, however, we found three novel wg enhancer activities in D. guttifera associated with novel domains of wg expression, including two enhancers located surprisingly far away in an intron of the distant Wnt10 gene. Detailed analysis of one enhancer (the vein-tip enhancer) revealed that it overlapped with a region controlling wg expression in wing crossveins (crossvein enhancer) in D. guttifera and other species. Our results indicate that one novel domain of wg expression in D. guttifera wings evolved by co-opting pre-existing regulatory sequences governing gene activity in the developing wing. We suggest that the modification of existing enhancers is a common path to the evolution of new gene-expression domains and enhancers.

scholarly journals Endosomal entry regulates Notch receptor activation in Drosophila melanogaster

2008 ◽  
Vol 180 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Vaccari ◽  
Han Lu ◽  
Ritu Kanwar ◽  
Mark E. Fortini ◽  
David Bilder
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Notch Pathway ◽  
Receptor Activation ◽  
Notch Receptor ◽  
Animal Development ◽  
Cell Proliferation And Differentiation ◽  
Pathway Activation ◽  
Proliferation And Differentiation ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
Endocytic Compartments

Signaling through the transmembrane receptor Notch is widely used throughout animal development and is a major regulator of cell proliferation and differentiation. During canonical Notch signaling, internalization and recycling of Notch ligands controls signaling activity, but the involvement of endocytosis in activation of Notch itself is not well understood. To address this question, we systematically assessed Notch localization, processing, and signaling in a comprehensive set of Drosophila melanogaster mutants that block access of cargo to different endocytic compartments. We find that γ-secretase cleavage and signaling of endogenous Notch is reduced in mutants that impair entry into the early endosome but is enhanced in mutants that increase endosomal retention. In mutants that block endosomal entry, we also uncover an alternative, low-efficiency Notch trafficking route that can contribute to signaling. Our data show that endosomal access of the Notch receptor is critical to achieve physiological levels of signaling and further suggest that altered residence in distinct endocytic compartments could underlie pathologies involving aberrant Notch pathway activation.

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