scholarly journals Shaking hands is a putative terminal selector and controls axon outgrowth of central complex neurons in the insect model Tribolium

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Carolina Garcia-Perez ◽  
Gregor Bucher ◽  
Marita Buescher
Keyword(s):  
Cell Types ◽  
Axon Outgrowth ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Neuronal Subtype ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
Developmental Dynamics ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Command Center

AbstractIndividual cell types are specified by transcriptional programs which act during development. Gene regulatory mechanisms which specify subtype identity of central complex (CX) neurons are the subject of intense investigation. The CX is a compartment within the brain common to all insect species. The CX functions as a “command center” by initiating motor actions in response to incoming information. The CX is made up of several thousand neurons with more than 60 morphologically distinct identities. Accordingly, transcriptional programs must effect the specification of at least as many neuronal subtypes. Here we demonstrate a role for the transcription factor Shaking hands (Skh) in the specification of embryonic CX neurons in Tribolium. The developmental dynamics of Tc-skh expression are characteristic for terminal selectors of neuronal subtype identity. In the embryonic brain Tc-skh expression is restricted to a subset of neurons, many of which survive to adulthood and contribute to the mature CX. Tc-skh expression is maintained throughout the lifetime of the respective CX neurons. Tc-skh knock-down results in severe axon outgrowth defects thus preventing the formation of an embryonic CX primordium. The as yet unstudied Drosophila skh shows a similar embryonic expression pattern suggesting that subtype specification of CX neurons may be conserved.

scholarly journals Shaking hands is a homeodomain transcription factor that controls axon outgrowth of central complex neurons in the insect model Tribolium

Development ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Carolina Garcia-Perez ◽  
Gregor Bucher ◽  
Marita Buescher
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Axon Outgrowth ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Regulatory Mechanisms ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
Developmental Dynamics ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Command Center

Gene regulatory mechanisms which specify subtype identity of central complex (CX) neurons are the subject of intense investigation. The CX is a compartment within the brain common to all insect species and functions as a “command center” which directs motor actions. It is made up of several thousand neurons with more than 60 morphologically distinct identities. Accordingly, transcriptional programs must effect the specification of at least as many neuronal subtypes. We demonstrate a role for the transcription factor Shaking hands (Skh) in the specification of embryonic CX neurons in Tribolium. The developmental dynamics of Tc-skh expression are characteristic for terminal selectors of subtype identity. In the embryonic brain, Tc-skh expression is restricted to a subset of neurons, many of which survive to adulthood and contribute to the mature CX. Tc-skh expression is maintained throughout the lifetime in at least some CX neurons. Tc-skh knock-down results in axon outgrowth defects thus preventing the formation of an embryonic CX primordium. The as yet unstudied Drosophila skh shows a similar embryonic expression pattern suggesting that subtype specification of CX neurons may be conserved.

scholarly journals A genomic lifespan program that reorganises the young adult brain is targeted in schizophrenia

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan G Skene ◽  
Marcia Roy ◽  
Seth GN Grant
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Molecular Organization ◽  
Tissue Samples ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Schizophrenia Susceptibility

The genetic mechanisms regulating the brain and behaviour across the lifespan are poorly understood. We found that lifespan transcriptome trajectories describe a calendar of gene regulatory events in the brain of humans and mice. Transcriptome trajectories defined a sequence of gene expression changes in neuronal, glial and endothelial cell-types, which enabled prediction of age from tissue samples. A major lifespan landmark was the peak change in trajectories occurring in humans at 26 years and in mice at 5 months of age. This species-conserved peak was delayed in females and marked a reorganization of expression of synaptic and schizophrenia-susceptibility genes. The lifespan calendar predicted the characteristic age of onset in young adults and sex differences in schizophrenia. We propose a genomic program generates a lifespan calendar of gene regulation that times age-dependent molecular organization of the brain and mutations that interrupt the program in young adults cause schizophrenia.

scholarly journals A Connectome of the Adult Drosophila Central Brain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Shan Xu ◽  
Michal Januszewski ◽  
Zhiyuan Lu ◽  
Shin-ya Takemura ◽  
Kenneth J. Hayworth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Fraction ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Data Set ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Central Brain ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe neural circuits responsible for behavior remain largely unknown. Previous efforts have reconstructed the complete circuits of small animals, with hundreds of neurons, and selected circuits for larger animals. Here we (the FlyEM project at Janelia and collaborators at Google) summarize new methods and present the complete circuitry of a large fraction of the brain of a much more complex animal, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Improved methods include new procedures to prepare, image, align, segment, find synapses, and proofread such large data sets; new methods that define cell types based on connectivity in addition to morphology; and new methods to simplify access to a large and evolving data set. From the resulting data we derive a better definition of computational compartments and their connections; an exhaustive atlas of cell examples and types, many of them novel; detailed circuits for most of the central brain; and exploration of the statistics and structure of different brain compartments, and the brain as a whole. We make the data public, with a web site and resources specifically designed to make it easy to explore, for all levels of expertise from the expert to the merely curious. The public availability of these data, and the simplified means to access it, dramatically reduces the effort needed to answer typical circuit questions, such as the identity of upstream and downstream neural partners, the circuitry of brain regions, and to link the neurons defined by our analysis with genetic reagents that can be used to study their functions.Note: In the next few weeks, we will release a series of papers with more involved discussions. One paper will detail the hemibrain reconstruction with more extensive analysis and interpretation made possible by this dense connectome. Another paper will explore the central complex, a brain region involved in navigation, motor control, and sleep. A final paper will present insights from the mushroom body, a center of multimodal associative learning in the fly brain.

scholarly journals Neuroarchitecture of the central complex in the brain of the honeybee: Neuronal cell types

2020 ◽  
Vol 529 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-186
Author(s):  
Ronja Hensgen ◽  
Laura England ◽  
Uwe Homberg ◽  
Keram Pfeiffer
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
The Brain

scholarly journals A single-cell catalogue of regulatory states in the ageing Drosophila brain

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristofer Davie ◽  
Jasper Janssens ◽  
Duygu Koldere ◽  
Uli Pech ◽  
Sara Aibar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Disease Mutations ◽  
Drosophila Brain ◽  
Gene Regulatory ◽  
Cell Transcriptome ◽  
Single Cell Transcriptome ◽  
The Brain

SummaryThe diversity of cell types and regulatory states in the brain, and how these change during ageing, remains largely unknown. Here, we present a single-cell transcriptome catalogue of the entire adult Drosophila melanogaster brain sampled across its lifespan. Both neurons and glia age through a process of “regulatory erosion”, characterized by a strong decline of RNA content, and accompanied by increasing transcriptional and chromatin noise. We identify more than 50 cell types by specific transcription factors and their downstream gene regulatory networks. In addition to neurotransmitter types and neuroblast lineages, we find a novel neuronal cell state driven by datilografo and prospero. This state relates to neuronal birth order, the metabolic profile, and the activity of a neuron. Our single-cell brain catalogue reveals extensive regulatory heterogeneity linked to ageing and brain function and will serve as a reference for future studies of genetic variation and disease mutations.

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