Shaking-B misexpression increases the formation of gap junctions but not chemical synapses between auditory sensory neurons and the giant fiber of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The synapse between auditory Johnston's Organ neurons (JONs) and the giant fiber (GF) of Drosophila is structurally mixed, being composed of cholinergic chemical synapses and Neurobiotin- (NB) permeable gap junctions, which consist of the innexin Shaking-B (ShakB). Previous observations showed that misexpression of one ShakB isoform, ShakB(N+16), in a subset of JONs that do not normally form gap junctions results in their de novo dye coupling to the GF. Misexpression of the transcription factor Engrailed (En) in these neurons also has this effect, and in addition causes the formation of new chemical synapses. These results, along with earlier studies suggesting that gap junctions are required for the development of some chemical synapses, led to the hypothesis that ShakB would, like En, ha

SUBMITTER: Jezzini SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6097648 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature