A unified platform to manage, share, and archive morphological and functional data in insect neuroscience
- Lund University, Sweden
- University of Würzburg, Germany
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
- University of Marburg, Germany
- Free University, Germany
- UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Germany
Abstract
Insect neuroscience generates vast amounts of highly diverse data, of which only a small fraction are findable, accessible and reusable. To promote an open data culture, we have therefore developed the InsectBrainDatabase (IBdb), a free online platform for insect neuroanatomical and functional data. The IBdb facilitates biological insight by enabling effective cross-species comparisons, by linking neural structure with function, and by serving as general information hub for insect neuroscience. The IBdb allow users to not only effectively locate and visualize data, but to make them widely available for easy, automated reuse via an application programming interface. A unique private mode of the database expands the IBdb functionality beyond public data deposition, additionally providing the means for managing, visualizing and sharing of unpublished data. This dual function creates an incentive for data contribution early in data management workflows and eliminates the additional effort normally associated with publicly depositing research data.
Data availability
All data underlying the figures of the paper are freely available in the insect brain database: insectbraindb.orgAccess to the database is free and can be achieved either by browsing insectbraindb.org or by API access. Documentation see https://insectbraindb.org/static/IBdb_Userguide.pdf
Article and author information
Author details
Frederick Zittrell
Funding
H2020 European Research Council (714599)
- Stanley Heinze
Swedish Research Foundation (2014 - 04623)
- Marie Dacke
H2020 European Research Council (817535)
- Marie Dacke
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-14-1-0242)
- Eric Warrant
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (EL784/1-1)
- Basil el Jundi
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HO 950/24-1,HO 950/25-1,HO 950/26-1)
- Uwe Homberg
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Me365/34)
- Randolf Menzel
Startup grant from the University of Würzburg
- Keram Pfeiffer
Norwegian Research Council (287052)
- Bente G Berg
Freie Universität Berlin and Zukunftskolleg University Konstanz
- Randolf Menzel
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2021, Heinze 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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A unified platform to manage, share, and archive morphological and functional data in insect neuroscience
eLife 10:e65376.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.65376
Further reading
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- Neuroscience
At many vertebrate synapses, presynaptic functions are tuned by expression of different Cav2 channels. Most invertebrate genomes contain only one Cav2 gene. The Drosophila Cav2 homolog, cacophony (cac), induces synaptic vesicle release at presynaptic active zones (AZs). We hypothesize that Drosophila cac functional diversity is enhanced by two mutually exclusive exon pairs that are not conserved in vertebrates, one in the voltage sensor and one in the loop binding Caβ and Gβγ subunits. We find that alternative splicing in the voltage sensor affects channel activation voltage. Only the isoform with the higher activation voltage localizes to AZs at the glutamatergic Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction and is imperative for normal synapse function. By contrast, alternative splicing at the other alternative exon pair tunes multiple aspects of presynaptic function. While expression of one exon yields normal transmission, expression of the other reduces channel number in the AZ and thus release probability. This also abolishes presynaptic homeostatic plasticity. Moreover, reduced channel number affects short-term plasticity, which is rescued by increasing the external calcium concentration to match release probability to control. In sum, in Drosophila alternative splicing provides a mechanism to regulate different aspects of presynaptic functions with only one Cav2 gene.
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- Neuroscience
- Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
We present near-atomic-resolution cryoEM structures of the mammalian voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.2 in open, C-type inactivated, toxin-blocked and sodium-bound states at 3.2 Å, 2.5 Å, 3.2 Å, and 2.9 Å. These structures, all obtained at nominally zero membrane potential in detergent micelles, reveal distinct ion-occupancy patterns in the selectivity filter. The first two structures are very similar to those reported in the related Shaker channel and the much-studied Kv1.2–2.1 chimeric channel. On the other hand, two new structures show unexpected patterns of ion occupancy. First, the toxin α-Dendrotoxin, like Charybdotoxin, is seen to attach to the negatively-charged channel outer mouth, and a lysine residue penetrates into the selectivity filter, with the terminal amine coordinated by carbonyls, partially disrupting the outermost ion-binding site. In the remainder of the filter two densities of bound ions are observed, rather than three as observed with other toxin-blocked Kv channels. Second, a structure of Kv1.2 in Na+ solution does not show collapse or destabilization of the selectivity filter, but instead shows an intact selectivity filter with ion density in each binding site. We also attempted to image the C-type inactivated Kv1.2 W366F channel in Na+ solution, but the protein conformation was seen to be highly variable and only a low-resolution structure could be obtained. These findings present new insights into the stability of the selectivity filter and the mechanism of toxin block of this intensively studied, voltage-gated potassium channel.
