Bicuculline-insensitive GABA-gated Cl? channels in the larval nervous system of the moth Manduca sexta

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B. Sattelle ◽  
Donglin Bai ◽  
Hong Hong Chen ◽  
Jacqueline M. Skeer ◽  
Steven D. Buckingham ◽  
...  
Genetics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 265-278
Author(s):  
Jessica A Golby ◽  
Leigh Anna Tolar ◽  
Leo Pallanck

Abstract The N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein (NSF) promotes the fusion of secretory vesicles with target membranes in both regulated and constitutive secretion. While it is thought that a single NSF may perform this function in many eukaryotes, previous work has shown that the Drosophila genome contains two distinct NSF genes, dNSF1 and dNSF2, raising the possibility that each plays a specific secretory role. To explore this possibility, we generated mutations in the dNSF2 gene and used these and novel dNSF1 loss-of-function mutations to analyze the temporal and spatial requirements and the degree of functional redundancy between dNSF1 and dNSF2. Results of this analysis indicate that dNSF1 function is required in the nervous system beginning at the adult stage of development and that dNSF2 function is required in mesoderm beginning at the first instar larval stage of development. Additional evidence suggests that dNSF1 and dNSF2 may play redundant roles during embryonic development and in the larval nervous system. Ectopic expression studies demonstrate that the dNSF1 and dNSF2 gene products can functionally substitute for one another. These results indicate that the Drosophila NSF proteins exhibit similar functional properties, but have evolved distinct tissue-specific roles.


1989 ◽  
Vol 147 (1) ◽  
pp. 457-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES W. TRUMAN ◽  
PHILIP F. COPENHAVER

Larval and pupal ecdyses of the moth Manduca sexta are triggered by eclosion hormone (EH) released from the ventral nervous system. The major store of EH activity in the latter resides in the proctodeal nerves that extend along the larval hindgut. At pupal ecdysis, the proctodeal nerves show a 90% depletion of stored activity, suggesting that they are the major release site for the circulating EH that causes ecdysis. Surgical experiments involving the transection of the nerve cord or removal of parts of the brain showed that the proctodeal nerve activity originates from the brain. Retrograde and anterograde cobalt fills and immunocytochemistry using antibodies against EH revealed two pairs of neurons that reside in the ventromedial region of the brain and whose axons travel ipsilaterally along the length of the central nervous system (CNS) and project into the proctodeal nerve, where they show varicose release sites. These neurons constitute a novel neuroendocrine pathway in insects which appears to be dedicated solely to the release of EH.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Johnston ◽  
C. Consoulas ◽  
H. Pflüger ◽  
R.B. Levine

The unpaired median neurons are common to the segmental ganglia of many insects. Although some of the functional consequences of their activation, among them the release of octopamine to modulate muscle contraction, have been described, less is understood about how and when these neurons are recruited during movement. The present study demonstrates that peripherally projecting unpaired median neurons in the abdominal and thoracic ganglia of the larval tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta are recruited rhythmically during the fictive crawling motor activity that is produced by the isolated central nervous system in response to pilocarpine. Regardless of the muscles to which they project, the efferent unpaired median neurons in all segmental ganglia are depolarized together during the phase of the crawling cycle when the thoracic leg levator motoneurons are active. During fictive crawling, therefore, the unpaired median neurons are not necessarily active in synchrony with the muscles to which they project. The rhythmical synaptic drive of the efferent unpaired median neurons is derived, at least in part, from a source within the subesophageal ganglion, even when the motor pattern is evoked by exposing only the more posterior ganglia to pilocarpine. In pairwise intracellular recordings from unpaired median neurons in different ganglia, prominent excitatory postsynaptic potentials, which occur with an anterior-to-posterior delay in both neurons, are seen to underlie the rhythmic depolarizations. One model consistent with these findings is that one or more neurons within the subesophageal ganglion, which project posteriorly to the segmental ganglia and ordinarily provide unpatterned synaptic inputs to all efferent unpaired median neurons, become rhythmically active during fictive crawling in response to ascending information from the segmental pattern-generating network.


2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nighorn ◽  
P.J. Simpson ◽  
D.B. Morton

Guanylyl cyclases are usually characterized as being either soluble (sGCs) or receptor (rGCs). We have recently cloned a novel guanylyl cyclase, MsGC-I, from the developing nervous system of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta that cannot be classified as either an sGC or an rGC. MsGC-I shows highest sequence identity with receptor guanylyl cyclases throughout its catalytic and dimerization domains, but does not contain the ligand-binding, transmembrane or kinase-like domains characteristic of receptor guanylyl cyclases. In addition, MsGC-I contains a C-terminal extension of 149 amino acid residues. In this paper, we report the expression of MsGC-I in the adult. Northern blots show that it is expressed preferentially in the nervous system, with high levels in the pharate adult brain and antennae. In the antennae, immunohistochemical analyses show that it is expressed in the cell bodies and dendrites, but not axons, of olfactory receptor neurons. In the brain, it is expressed in a variety of sensory neuropils including the antennal and optic lobes. It is also expressed in structures involved in higher-order processing including the mushroom bodies and central complex. This complicated expression pattern suggests that this novel guanylyl cyclase plays an important role in mediating cyclic GMP levels in the nervous system of Manduca sexta.


1978 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-132
Author(s):  
ANN E. KAMMER ◽  
D. L. DAHLMAN ◽  
GERALD A. ROSENTHAL

Injection of L-canavanine, a naturally occurring arginine analogue, and of its metabolic derivative, L-canaline, induced almost continuous motor activity in adult tobacco hornworms, Manduca sexta (L.). Initially the moths flew normally, but after a time interval that depended both on the amino acid and on the dose (1-l45/μmol/g fresh weight) the moths became disorientated and muscle activity was less patterned. Canaline produced its initial effects 12-30 min after injection, whereas activity in response to canavanine began after a delay of 1-2 h. Canaline (derived from canavanine by an arginase-mediated hydrolytic cleavage) is probably the biologically active factor. Canaline did not affect axonal conduction of action potentials nor the activity of mechanoreceptors on the forewing. Canaline (22μmol/g fresh weight) prolonged the postsynaptic potential of flight muscle fibres, but after 20-40 min. the electrical activity of muscle fibres was normal. The results show that canaline alters the activity of the central nervous system of adult M. sexta, but its mode of action is unknown.


1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (6) ◽  
pp. 1307-1311
Author(s):  
J J Milde ◽  
R Ziegler ◽  
M Wallstein

A simple preparation designed to screen and compare the central action of putative neuroactive agents in the moth Manduca sexta is described. This approach combines microinjections into the central nervous system with myograms recorded from a pair of spontaneously active mesothoracic muscles. Pressure injection of either octopamine or Manduca adipokinetic hormone (M-AKH) into the mesothoracic neuropile increases the monitored motor activity. Under the conditions used, the excitatory effects of M-AKH exceed those of the potent neuromodulator octopamine. This suggests that M-AKH plays a role in the central nervous system in addition to its known metabolic functions and supports recent evidence that neuropeptides in insects can be multifunctional.


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