The role of PDF neurons in setting preferred temperature before dawn in Drosophila
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, United States
- University College London, United Kingdom
- Hokkaido University, Japan
- University of London, United Kingdom
- University of Cincinnati, United States
- Westfälische Wilhelms University, Germany
Abstract
Animals have sophisticated homeostatic controls. While mammalian body temperature fluctuates throughout the day, small ectotherms, such as Drosophila, achieve a body temperature rhythm (BTR) through their preference of environmental temperature. Here, we demonstrate that pigment dispersing factor (PDF) neurons play an important role in setting preferred temperature before dawn. We show that small lateral ventral neurons (sLNvs), a subset of PDF neurons, activate the dorsal neurons 2 (DN2s), the main circadian clock cells that regulate temperature preference rhythm (TPR). The number of temporal contacts between sLNvs and DN2s peak before dawn. Our data suggest that the thermosensory Anterior Cells (ACs) likely contact sLNvs via serotonin signaling. Together, the ACs-sLNs-DN2s neural circuit regulates the proper setting of temperature preference before dawn. Given that sLNvs are important for sleep and that BTR and sleep have a close temporal relationship, our data highlight a possible neuronal interaction between body temperature and sleep regulation.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (R01 grant GM107582)
- Fumika N Hamada
March of Dimes Foundation (Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award)
- Fumika N Hamada
Japan Science and Technology Agency (PRESTO)
- Fumika N Hamada
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Ralf Stanewsky
Seventh Framework Programme
- Ralf Stanewsky
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2017, Tang et al.
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.
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The role of PDF neurons in setting preferred temperature before dawn in Drosophila
eLife 6:e23206.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.23206
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