Descending GABAergic pathway links brain sugar-sensing to peripheral nociceptive gating in Drosophila.

Although painful stimuli elicit defensive responses including escape behavior for survival, starved animals often prioritize feeding over escape even in a noxious environment. This behavioral priority is typically mediated by suppression of noxious inputs through descending control in the brain, yet underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here we identify a cluster of GABAergic neurons in Drosophila larval brain, designated as SEZ-localized Descending GABAergic neurons (SDGs), that project descending axons onto the axon terminals of the peripheral nociceptive neurons and prevent presynaptic activity through GABAB receptors. Remarkably, glucose feeding to starved larvae causes sustained activation of SDGs through glucose-sensing neurons and subsequent insulin signaling in SDGs, which attenuates nociception and thereby suppresses escape behavior in response to multiple noxious stimuli. These findings illustrate a neural mechanism by which sugar sensing neurons in the brain engages descending GABAergic neurons in nociceptive gating to achieve hierarchical interaction between feeding and escape behavior.

Presynaptic Ube3a E3 ligase promotes synapse elimination through down-regulation of BMP signaling.

Inactivation of the ubiquitin ligase Ube3a causes the developmental disorder Angelman syndrome, whereas increased Ube3a dosage is associated with autism spectrum disorders. Despite the enriched localization of Ube3a in the axon terminals including presynapses, little is known about the presynaptic function of Ube3a and mechanisms underlying its presynaptic localization. We show that developmental synapse elimination requires presynaptic Ube3a activity in Drosophila neurons. We further identified the domain of Ube3a that is required for its interaction with the kinesin motor. Angelman syndrome-associated missense mutations in the interaction domain attenuate presynaptic targeting of Ube3a and prevent synapse elimination. Conversely, increased Ube3a activity in presynapses leads to precocious synapse elimination and impairs synaptic transmission. Our findings reveal the physiological role of Ube3a and suggest potential pathogenic mechanisms associated with Ube3a dysregulation.

Threat gates visual aversion via theta activity in Tachykinergic neurons.

Animals must adapt sensory responses to an ever-changing environment for survival. Such sensory modulation is especially critical in a threatening situation, in which animals often promote aversive responses to, among others, visual stimuli. Recently, threatened Drosophila has been shown to exhibit a defensive internal state. Whether and how threatened Drosophila promotes visual aversion, however, remains elusive. Here we report that mechanical threats to Drosophila transiently gate aversion from an otherwise neutral visual object. We further identified the neuropeptide tachykinin, and a single cluster of neurons expressing it ("Tk-GAL42 ∩ Vglut neurons"), that are responsible for gating visual aversion. Calcium imaging analysis revealed that mechanical threats are encoded in Tk-GAL42 ∩ Vglut neurons as elevated activity. Remarkably, we also discovered that a visual object is encoded in Tk-GAL42 ∩ Vglut neurons as θ oscillation, which is causally linked to visual aversion. Our data reveal how a single cluster of neurons adapt organismal sensory response to a threatening situation through a neuropeptide and a combination of rate/temporal coding schemes.

Co-culture system of human skin equivalents with mouse neural spheroids.

This study describes a co-culture system of human skin equivalents (HSEs) and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. We prepared spheroids of mouse DRG neurons with or without Schwann cells (SCs). Spheroids comprising DRG neurons and SCs showed longer neurite extensions than those comprising DRG neurons alone. Neurite extension of more than 1 mm was observed from spheroids cultured inside HSEs, whereas neurite extension was primarily observed on the surface of HSEs from spheroids cultured on HSEs. We propose that our model may be a useful tool for studying neurite extension in the human skin.

Glutamatergic Projections from the Posterior Complex of the Anterior Olfactory Nucleus to the Amygdala Complexes.

Social buffering is a phenomenon where stress responses are ameliorated by an affiliative conspecific. Our previous findings suggest that the posterior complex of the anterior olfactory nucleus (AOP) is well positioned to participate in the neural mechanisms underlying social buffering. However, the lack of anatomical information prevents us from further estimating the role of the AOP. Here, we obtained anatomical information regarding the AOP in male rats. In Experiment 1 (n = 5), among 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole-positive cells in the AOP, the proportion of glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 (GAD67)-positive cells was 13.8% ± 1.2%. In Experiment 2 (n = 5), among the cells that were labeled by a retrograde tracer injected into the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA), the proportion of GAD67-positive cells was 18.6% ± 0.8%. In Experiment 3 (n = 5), we demonstrated the existence of cells that were labeled by the retrograde tracer injected into the posterior part of the medial amygdala (MeP), mostly into the ventral part of the MeP. In addition, the proportion of GAD67-positive cells among the tracer-labeled cells was 21.7% ± 1.7%. In Experiment 4 (n = 3), the retrograde tracers were injected into the BLA and MeP, mostly into the ventral part of the MeP. The proportion of double-labeled cells among the tracer-labeled cells was 2.1% ± 1.2%. Taken together, these results suggest that the AOP is predominantly composed of glutamatergic neurons. In addition, the AOP sends mutually independent glutamatergic-predominant projections to the BLA and MeP.

RAB35 is required for murine hippocampal development and functions by regulating neuronal cell distribution.

RAB35 is a multifunctional small GTPase that regulates endocytic recycling, cytoskeletal rearrangement, and cytokinesis. However, its physiological functions in mammalian development remain unclear. Here, we generated Rab35-knockout mice and found that RAB35 is essential for early embryogenesis. Interestingly, brain-specific Rab35-knockout mice displayed severe defects in hippocampal lamination owing to impaired distribution of pyramidal neurons, although defects in cerebral cortex formation were not evident. In addition, Rab35-knockout mice exhibited defects in spatial memory and anxiety-related behaviors. Quantitative proteomics indicated that the loss of RAB35 significantly affected the levels of other RAB proteins associated with endocytic trafficking, as well as some neural cell adhesion molecules, such as contactin-2. Collectively, our findings revealed that RAB35 is required for precise neuronal distribution in the developing hippocampus by regulating the expression of cell adhesion molecules, thereby influencing spatial memory.

The circadian clock in the piriform cortex intrinsically tunes daily changes of odor-evoked neural activity.

The daily activity in the brain is typically fine-tuned by the circadian clock in the local neurons as well as by the master circadian clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. In the olfactory response, odor-evoked activity in the piriform cortex (PC) and olfactory behavior retain circadian rhythmicity in the absence of the SCN, yet how the circadian rhythm in the PC is achieved independently of the SCN remains elusive. Here, to define neurons regulating the circadian rhythm of the odor-evoked activity in the PC, we knocked out the clock gene Bmal1 in a host of specific neurons along the olfactory circuit. We discovered that Bmal1 knockout in the PC largely abolishes the circadian rhythm of the odor-evoked activity. We further showed that isolated PC exhibits sustained circadian rhythms of the clock gene Per2 expression. Quantitative PCR analysis revealed that expression patterns of multiple genes involved in neural activity and synaptic transmission exhibit circadian rhythm in the PC in a BMAL1-dependent manner. Our findings indicate that BMAL1 acts intrinsically in the PC to control the circadian rhythm of the odor-evoked activity in the PC, possibly through regulating expression patterns of multiple genes involved in neural activity and transmission.

The tyrosine capsid mutations on retrograde adeno-associated virus accelerates gene transduction efficiency.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector is a critical tool for gene delivery through its durable transgene expression and safety profile. Among many serotypes, AAV2-retro is typically utilized for dissecting neural circuits with its retrograde functionality. However, this vector requires a relatively long-term incubation period (over 2 weeks) to obtain enough gene expression levels presumably due to low efficiency in gene transduction. Here, we aimed to enhance transgene expression efficiency of AAV2-retro vectors by substituting multiple tyrosine residues with phenylalanines (YF mutations) in the virus capsid, which is previously reported to improve the transduction efficiency of AAV2-infected cells by evading host cell responses. We found that AAV2-retro with YF mutations (AAV2-retroYF)-mediated transgene expression was significantly enhanced in the primary culture of murine cortical neurons at 1 week after application, comparable to that of the conventional AAV2-retro at 2 week after application. Moreover, transgene expressions in the retrogradely labeled neurons mediated by AAV2-retroYF were significantly increased both in the cortico-cortical circuits and in the subcortical circuits in vivo, while the retrograde functionality of AAV2-retroYF was equally effective as that of AAV2-retro. Our data indicate that YF mutations boost AAV2-retro-mediated retrograde gene transduction in vivo and suggest that the AAV2-retroYF should be useful for efficient targeting of the projection-defined neurons, which is suited to applications for dissecting neural circuits during development as well as future clinical applications.

Spatial and temporal diversity of DCLK1 isoforms in developing mouse brain.

Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) is a Doublecortin family kinase involved in a range of brain development processes including cell migration, axon/dendrite growth, and synapse development. The Dclk1 gene potentially generates multiple splicing isoforms, but the detailed expression patterns in the brain as well as in vivo functions of each isoform are still incompletely understood. Here we assessed expression patterns of DCLK1 isoforms using multiple platforms including in silico, in situ, and in vitro datasets in the developing mouse brain, and show quantitative evidence that among the four DCLK1 isoforms, DCLK1-L and DCL are mainly expressed in the embryonic cortex whereas DCLK1-L and CPG16 become dominant compared to DCL and CARP in the postnatal cortex. We also provide compelling evidence that DCLK1 isoforms are distributed in the partially distinct brain regions in the embryonic and the postnatal stages. We further show that overexpression of DCLK1-L, but not the other isoforms, in neural progenitors causes severe migration defects in the cortex, and that the migration defects are dependent on the kinase activity of DCLK1-L. Our data thus uncover partially segregated localization of DCLK1 isoforms in the developing mouse brain and suggest different roles for distinct DCLK1 isoforms in the brain development and function.

Spatiotemporal regulation of developmental neurite pruning: Molecular and cellular insights from Drosophila models.

Developmental neurite pruning is a process by which neurons selectively eliminate unnecessary processes of axons and/or dendrites without cell death, which shapes the mature wiring of nervous systems. In this sense, developmental neurite pruning requires spatiotemporally precise control of local degradation of cellular components including cytoskeletons and membranes. The Drosophila nervous system undergoes large-scale remodeling, including axon/dendrite pruning, during metamorphosis. In addition to this unique phenomenon in the nervous system, powerful genetic tools make the Drosophila nervous system a sophisticated model to investigate spatiotemporal regulation of neural remodeling. This article reviews recent advances to our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of developmental axon/dendrite pruning, mainly focusing on studies in Drosophila sensory neurons and mushroom body neurons.

Adeno-Associated Virus-Mediated Single-Cell Labeling of Mitral Cells in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb: Insights into the Developmental Dynamics of Dendrite Remodeling.

Neurons typically remodel axons/dendrites for functional refinement of neural circuits in the developing brain. Mitral cells in the mammalian olfactory system remodel their dendritic arbors in the perinatal development, but the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms remain elusive in part due to a lack of convenient methods to label mitral cells with single-cell resolution. Here we report a novel method for single-cell labeling of mouse mitral cells using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene delivery. We first demonstrated that AAV injection into the olfactory ventricle of embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5) mice preferentially labels mitral cells in the olfactory bulb (OB). Birthdate labeling indicated that AAV can transduce mitral cells independently of their birthdates. Furthermore, in combination with the Cre-mediated gene expression system, AAV injection allows visualization of mitral cells at single-cell resolution. Using this AAV-mediated single-cell labeling method, we investigated dendrite development of mitral cells and found that ~50% of mitral cells exhibited mature apical dendrites with a single thick and tufted branch before birth, suggesting that a certain population of mitral cells completes dendrite remodeling during embryonic stages. We also found an atypical subtype of mitral cells that have multiple dendritic shafts innervating the same glomeruli. Our data thus demonstrate that the AAV-mediated labeling method that we reported here provides an efficient way to visualize mitral cells with single-cell resolution and could be utilized to study dynamic aspects as well as functions of mitral cells in the olfactory circuits.

A pair of ascending neurons in the subesophageal zone mediates aversive sensory inputs-evoked backward locomotion in Drosophila larvae.

Animals typically avoid unwanted situations with stereotyped escape behavior. For instance, Drosophila larvae often escape from aversive stimuli to the head, such as mechanical stimuli and blue light irradiation, by backward locomotion. Responses to these aversive stimuli are mediated by a variety of sensory neurons including mechanosensory class III da (C3da) sensory neurons and blue-light responsive class IV da (C4da) sensory neurons and Bolwig's organ (BO). How these distinct sensory pathways evoke backward locomotion at the circuit level is still incompletely understood. Here we show that a pair of cholinergic neurons in the subesophageal zone, designated AMBs, evoke robust backward locomotion upon optogenetic activation. Anatomical and functional analysis shows that AMBs act upstream of MDNs, the command-like neurons for backward locomotion. Further functional analysis indicates that AMBs preferentially convey aversive blue light information from C4da neurons to MDNs to elicit backward locomotion, whereas aversive information from BO converges on MDNs through AMB-independent pathways. We also found that, unlike in adult flies, MDNs are dispensable for the dead end-evoked backward locomotion in larvae. Our findings thus reveal the neural circuits by which two distinct blue light-sensing pathways converge on the command-like neurons to evoke robust backward locomotion, and suggest that distinct but partially redundant neural circuits including the command-like neurons might be utilized to drive backward locomotion in response to different sensory stimuli as well as in adults and larvae.

Drosophila miR-87 promotes dendrite regeneration by targeting the transcriptional repressor Tramtrack69.

To remodel functional neuronal connectivity, neurons often alter dendrite arbors through elimination and subsequent regeneration of dendritic branches. However, the intrinsic mechanisms underlying this developmentally programmed dendrite regeneration and whether it shares common machinery with injury-induced regeneration remain largely unknown. Drosophila class IV dendrite arborization (C4da) sensory neurons regenerate adult-specific dendrites after eliminating larval dendrites during metamorphosis. Here we show that the microRNA miR-87 is a critical regulator of dendrite regeneration in Drosophila. miR-87 knockout impairs dendrite regeneration after developmentally-programmed pruning, whereas miR-87 overexpression in C4da neurons leads to precocious initiation of dendrite regeneration. Genetic analyses indicate that the transcriptional repressor Tramtrack69 (Ttk69) is a functional target for miR-87-mediated repression as ttk69 expression is increased in miR-87 knockout neurons and reducing ttk69 expression restores dendrite regeneration to mutants lacking miR-87 function. We further show that miR-87 is required for dendrite regeneration after acute injury in the larval stage, providing a mechanistic link between developmentally programmed and injury-induced dendrite regeneration. These findings thus indicate that miR-87 promotes dendrite regrowth during regeneration at least in part through suppressing Ttk69 in Drosophila sensory neurons and suggest that developmental and injury-induced dendrite regeneration share a common intrinsic mechanism to reactivate dendrite growth.

Think Globally, Act Locally: Scaling the Growth of Motor Neurons.

During organismal growth, body parts expand proportionally with one another and with the body as a whole, but the signals mediating this scalar expansion have been elusive. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Ho and Treisman uncover a signal transduction pathway that coordinates muscle growth and neuromuscular junction expansion.

Scrap and Build for Functional Neural Circuits: Spatiotemporal Regulation of Dendrite Degeneration and Regeneration in Neural Development and Disease.

Dendrites are cellular structures essential for the integration of neuronal information. These elegant but complex structures are highly patterned across the nervous system but vary tremendously in their size and fine architecture, each designed to best serve specific computations within their networks. Recent in vivo imaging studies reveal that the development of mature dendrite arbors in many cases involves extensive remodeling achieved through a precisely orchestrated interplay of growth, degeneration, and regeneration of dendritic branches. Both degeneration and regeneration of dendritic branches involve precise spatiotemporal regulation for the proper wiring of functional networks. In particular, dendrite degeneration must be targeted in a compartmentalized manner to avoid neuronal death. Dysregulation of these developmental processes, in particular dendrite degeneration, is associated with certain types of pathology, injury, and aging. In this article, we review recent progress in our understanding of dendrite degeneration and regeneration, focusing on molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying spatiotemporal control of dendrite remodeling in neural development. We further discuss how developmental dendrite degeneration and regeneration are molecularly and functionally related to dendrite remodeling in pathology, disease, and aging.

Prior activity of olfactory receptor neurons is required for proper sensory processing and behavior in Drosophila larvae.

Animal responses to their environment rely on activation of sensory neurons by external stimuli. In many sensory systems, however, neurons display basal activity prior to the external stimuli. This prior activity is thought to modulate neural functions, yet its impact on animal behavior remains elusive. Here, we reveal a potential role for prior activity in olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) in shaping larval olfactory behavior. We show that prior activity in larval ORNs is mediated by the olfactory receptor complex (OR complex). Mutations of Orco, an odorant co-receptor required for OR complex function, cause reduced attractive behavior in response to optogenetic activation of ORNs. Calcium imaging reveals that Orco mutant ORNs fully respond to optogenetic stimulation but exhibit altered temporal patterns of neural responses. These findings together suggest a critical role for prior activity in information processing upon ORN activation in Drosophila larvae, which in turn contributes to olfactory behavior control.

Neural Circuitry that Evokes Escape Behavior upon Activation of Nociceptive Sensory Neurons in Drosophila Larvae.

Noxious stimuli trigger a stereotyped escape response in animals. In Drosophila larvae, class IV dendrite arborization (C4 da) sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system are responsible for perception of multiple nociceptive modalities, including noxious heat and harsh mechanical stimulation, through distinct receptors [1-9]. Silencing or ablation of C4 da neurons largely eliminates larval responses to noxious stimuli [10-12], whereas optogenetic activation of C4 da neurons is sufficient to provoke corkscrew-like rolling behavior similar to what is observed when larvae receive noxious stimuli, such as high temperature or harsh mechanical stimulation [10-12]. The receptors and the regulatory mechanisms for C4 da activation in response to a variety of noxious stimuli have been well studied [13-23], yet how C4 da activation triggers the escape behavior in the circuit level is still incompletely understood. Here we identify segmentally arrayed local interneurons (medial clusters of C4 da second-order interneurons [mCSIs]) in the ventral nerve cord that are necessary and sufficient to trigger rolling behavior. GFP reconstitution across synaptic partners (GRASP) analysis indicates that C4 da axons form synapses with mCSI dendrites. Optogenetic activation of mCSIs induces the rolling behavior, whereas silencing mCSIs reduces the probability of rolling behavior upon C4 da activation. Further anatomical and functional studies suggest that the C4 da-mCSI nociceptive circuit evokes rolling behavior at least in part through segmental nerve a (SNa) motor neurons. Our findings thus uncover a local circuit that promotes escape behavior upon noxious stimuli in Drosophila larvae and provide mechanistic insights into how noxious stimuli are transduced into the stereotyped escape behavior in the circuit level.

DCLK1 phosphorylates the microtubule-associated protein MAP7D1 to promote axon elongation in cortical neurons.

Doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) is a member of the neuronal microtubule-associated doublecortin (DCX) family and functions in multiple stages of neural development including radial migration and axon growth of cortical neurons. DCLK1 is suggested to play the roles in part through its protein kinase activity, yet the kinase substrates of DCLK1 remain largely unknown. Here we have identified MAP7D1 (microtubule-associated protein 7 domain containing 1) as a novel substrate of DCLK1 by using proteomic analysis. MAP7D1 is expressed in developing cortical neurons, and knockdown of MAP7D1 in layer 2/3 cortical neurons results in a significant impairment of callosal axon elongation, but not of radial migration, in corticogenesis. We have further defined the serine 315 (Ser 315) of MAP7D1 as a DCLK1-induced phosphorylation site and shown that overexpression of a phosphomimetic MAP7D1 mutant in which Ser 315 is substituted with glutamic acid (MAP7D1 S315E), but not wild-type MAP7D1, fully rescues the axon elongation defects in Dclk1 knockdown neurons. These data demonstrate that DCLK1 phosphorylates MAP7D1 on Ser 315 to facilitate axon elongation of cortical neurons. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 77: 419-437, 2017.

Adult Drosophila sensory neurons specify dendritic territories independently of dendritic contacts through the Wnt5-Drl signaling pathway.

Sensory neurons with common functions are often nonrandomly arranged and form dendritic territories in stereotypic spatial patterns throughout the nervous system, yet molecular mechanisms of how neurons specify dendritic territories remain largely unknown. In Drosophila larvae, dendrites of class IV sensory (C4da) neurons completely but nonredundantly cover the whole epidermis, and the boundaries of these tiled dendritic fields are specified through repulsive interactions between homotypic dendrites. Here we report that, unlike the larval C4da neurons, adult C4da neurons rely on both dendritic repulsive interactions and external positional cues to delimit the boundaries of their dendritic fields. We identify Wnt5 derived from sternites, the ventral-most part of the adult abdominal epidermis, as the critical determinant for the ventral boundaries. Further genetic data indicate that Wnt5 promotes dendrite termination on the periphery of sternites through the Ryk receptor family kinase Derailed (Drl) and the Rho GTPase guanine nucleotide exchange factor Trio in C4da neurons. Our findings thus uncover the dendritic contact-independent mechanism that is required for dendritic boundary specification and suggest that combinatory actions of the dendritic contact-dependent and -independent mechanisms may ensure appropriate dendritic territories of a given neuron.