Project description:T4 and T5 neurons are components of the neuronal circuit for motion vision in flies. To identify genes involved in neuronal computation of T4 and T5 neurons, we perfomed transcriptome analysis. Nuclei of T4 and T5 neurons were immunoprecipitated, total RNA was harvested and used for mRNA-seq with Illumina technology. In two biological replicates, we mapped 154 and 119 million reads to D. melanogaster genome. mRNA-seq provided information about expression levels of 17,468 annotated transcripts in the T4 and T5 neurons.
Project description:T4 and T5 neurons are components of the neuronal circuit for motion vision in flies. To identify genes involved in neuronal computation of T4 and T5 neurons, we perfomed transcriptome analysis. Nuclei of T4 and T5 neurons were immunoprecipitated, total RNA was harvested and used for mRNA-seq with Illumina technology. In two biological replicates, we mapped 154 and 119 million reads to D. melanogaster genome. mRNA-seq provided information about expression levels of 17,468 annotated transcripts in the T4 and T5 neurons. Cell type – specific transcriptome analysis of the RNA isolated from immunoprecipitated nuclei, performed in two biological replicates
Project description:Targeted DamID was performed to identify binding targets of Drgx in T4/T5 neurons. RNA-seq analysis of differentially expressed genes following the knockdown of Drgx in T4/T5 neurons of late third instar larvae, compared with control.
Project description:Targeted DamID was performed to identify binding targets of Drgx in T4/T5 neurons. RNA-seq analysis of differentially expressed genes following the knockdown of Drgx in T4/T5 neurons of late third instar larvae, compared with control.
Project description:Direction-selective T4/T5 neurons exist in four subtypes, each tuned to visual motion along one of the four cardinal directions. Along with their directional tuning, neurons of each T4/T5 subtype orient their dendrites and project their axons in a subtype-specific manner. Directional tuning, thus, appears strictly linked to morphology in T4/T5 neurons. How the four T4/T5 subtypes acquire their distinct morphologies development remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated when and how the dendrites of the four T4/T5 subtypes acquire their specific orientations, and profiled the transcriptomes of all T4/T5 neurons during this process. This revealed a simple and stable combinatorial code of transcription factors defining the four T4/T5 subtypes during their development. Changing the combination of transcription factors of specific T4/T5 subtypes resulted in predictable and complete conversions of subtype-specific properties, i.e. dendrite orientation and matching axon projection pattern. Therefore, a combinatorial code of transcription during factors coordinates the development of dendrite and axon morphologies to generate anatomical specializations differentiating subtypes of T4/T5 motion-sensing neurons.
Project description:Atonal is a proneural transcription factor expressed in the Drosophila neuroblast cluster known as the inner proliferation center (IPC). The t4/t5 neurons that derived from the IPC require atonal for their normal development. To characterize the role of Atonal in t4/t5 development we have sequenced the translated RNA in t4/t5 neurons in wild type and ato loss of function flies.
Project description:We sequenced mRNA extracted from heads of a D. melanogaster population that was sedated with a stream of ethanol saturated vapor, 30 minutes before RNA extraction; and from an age-matched untreated control group. Differential gene expression between the two groups was calculated and reported.
Project description:Analysis of the developmental function of the PAIRED-Like homeobox transcription factor Drgx in T4/T5 neurons of Drosophila melanogaster [RNA-seq]
Project description:Understanding the genotype-phenotype map and how variation at different levels of biological organization is associated are central topics in modern biology. Fast developments in sequencing technologies and other molecular omic tools enable researchers to obtain detailed information on variation at DNA level and on intermediate endophenotypes, such as RNA, proteins and metabolites. This can facilitate our understanding of the link between genotypes and molecular and functional organismal phenotypes. Here, we use the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics to investigate the ability of the metabolome to predict organismal phenotypes. We performed NMR metabolomics on four replicate pools of male flies from each of 170 different isogenic lines. Our results show that metabolite profiles are variable among the investigated lines and that this variation is highly heritable. Second, we identify genes associated with metabolome variation. Third, using the metabolome gave better prediction accuracies than genomic information for four of five quantitative traits analyzed. Our comprehensive characterization of population-scale diversity of metabolomes and its genetic basis illustrates that metabolites have large potential as predictors of organismal phenotypes. This finding is of great importance, e.g., in human medicine, evolutionary biology and animal and plant breeding.