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The Alk receptor tyrosine kinase regulates Sparkly, a novel activity regulating neuropeptide precursor in the Drosophila CNS

ABSTRACT: Numerous roles for the Alk receptor tyrosine kinase have been described in Drosophila, including functions in the CNS, however the molecular details are poorly understood. To gain mechanistic insight, we employed Targeted DamID (TaDa) transcriptional profiling to identify targets of Alk signaling in the larval CNS. TaDa was employed in larval CNS tissues, while genetically manipulating Alk signaling output. The resulting TaDa data were analysed together with larval CNS scRNA-seq datasets performed under similar conditions, identifying a role for Alk in the transcriptional regulation of neuroendocrine gene expression. Further integration with bulk/scRNA-seq and protein datasets from larval brains in which Alk signaling was manipulated, identified a previously uncharacterized Drosophila neuropeptide precursor encoded by CG4577 as an Alk signaling transcriptional target. CG4577, which we named Sparkly (Spar), is expressed in a subset of Alk-positive neuroendocrine cells in the developing larval CNS, including circadian clock neurons. In agreement with our TaDa analysis, overexpression of the Drosophila Alk ligand Jeb resulted in increased levels of Spar protein in the larval CNS. We show that Spar protein is expressed in circadian (Clock) neurons, and Spar mutants exhibit defects in sleep and circadian rhythm control. In summary, we report a novel activity regulating neuropeptide precursor gene that is regulated by Alk signaling in the Drosophila CNS.

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

PROVIDER: GSE229518 | GEO | 2024/03/05

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:One of the key aspects of neuronal differentiation is the array of neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors that each neuron possesses. One important goal of developmental neuroscience is to understand how these differentiated properties are established during development. In this paper, we use fluorescence activated cell sorting and RNA-seq to determine the transcriptome of the Drosophila CNS midline cells, which consist of a small number of well-characterized neurons and glia. These data revealed that midline cells express 9 neuropeptide precursor genes, 13 neuropeptide receptor genes, and 31 small-molecule neurotransmitter receptor genes. In situ hybridization and high-resolution confocal analyses were carried-out to determine the midline cell identity for these neuropeptides and the neuropeptide receptors. The results revealed a surprising level of diversity. Neuropeptide genes are expressed in a variety of midline cell types, including motoneurons, GABAergic interneurons, and midline glia. These data revealed previously unknown functional differences among the highly-related iVUM neurons. There also exist segmental differences in expression for the same neuronal sub-type. Similar experiments on midline-expressed neuropeptide receptor genes reveal considerable diversity in synaptic inputs. Multiple receptor types were expressed in midline interneurons and motoneurons, and, in one case, link feeding behavior to gut peristalsis and locomotion. There were also segmental differences, variations between the 3 iVUMs, and three hormone receptor genes were broadly expressed in most midline cells. The Drosophila Castor transcription factor is present at high levels in iVUM5, which is both GABAergic and expresses the short neuropeptide F precursor gene. Genetic and misexpression experiments indicated that castor specifically controls expression of the short neuropeptide F precursor gene, but does not affect iVUM cell fate or expression of Gad1. This indicates a novel function for castor in regulating neuropeptide gene expression. To study the development and differentiation of the CNS midline cells of Drosophila melanogaster on a genome-wide scale, these cells were labeled with GFP using the GAL/UAS system and FACS purified at 2 ermbryonic time-points; 6-8 hours and 14-16 hours after egg laying. Poly(A) mRNA was collected from these samples and cDNA libraries were generated. Sequencing was performed on 6 independent samples: Two FACS purified CNS-midline cell samples and one non-midline sample taken from 6-8 hours After Egg Laying (AEL) embryos and from 14-16 hours AEL embryos.

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The Alk receptor tyrosine kinase regulates Sparkly, a novel activity regulating neuropeptide precursor in the Drosophila CNS

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