Maturation of a central brain flight circuit in Drosophila requires Fz2/Ca2+ signaling
Abstract
The final identity of a differentiated neuron is determined by multiple signaling events, including activity dependent calcium transients. Non-canonical Frizzled2 (Fz2) signaling generates calcium transients that determine neuronal polarity, neuronal migration and synapse assembly in the developing vertebrate brain. Here, we demonstrate a requirement for Fz2/Ca2+ signaling in determining the final differentiated state of a set of central brain dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila, referred to as the PAM cluster. Knockdown or inhibition of Fz2/Ca2+ signaling during maturation of the flight circuit in pupae reduces Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH) expression in the PAM neurons and affects maintenance of flight. Thus we demonstrate that Fz2/Ca2+ transients during development serve as a pre-requisite for normal adult behavior. Our results support a neural mechanism where PAM neuron send projections to the α' and β' lobes of a higher brain centre, the mushroom body, and function in dopaminergic re-inforcement of flight.
Article and author information
Author details
Copyright
© 2015, Agrawal & Hasan
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 2,486
- views
-
- 523
- downloads
-
- 26
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Citations by DOI
-
- 26
- citations for umbrella DOI https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07046