Cetaceans and Naval Sonar: Behavioral Response as a Function of Sonar Frequency

AbstractThe delayed behavioral response to chronic antidepressants depends on dynamic changes in the hippocampus. It was suggested that the antidepressant protein p11 and the chromatin remodeling factor SMARCA3 mediate this delayed response by inducing transcriptional changes in hippocampal neurons. However, what target genes are regulated by the p11/SMARCA3 complex to mediate the behavioral response to antidepressants, and what cell type mediates these molecular changes remain unknown. Here we report that the p11/SMARCA3 complex represses Neurensin-2 transcription in hippocampal parvalbumin-expressing interneurons after chronic treatment with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI). The behavioral response to antidepressants requires upregulation of p11, accumulation of SMARCA3 in the cell nucleus, and a consequent repression of Neurensin-2 transcription in these interneurons. We elucidate a functional role for p11/SMARCA3/Neurensin-2 pathway in regulating AMPA-receptor signaling in parvalbumin-expressing interneurons, a function that is enhanced by chronic treatment with SSRIs. These results link SSRIs to dynamic glutamatergic changes and implicate p11/SMARCA3/Neurensin-2 pathway in the development of more specific and efficient therapeutic strategies for neuropsychiatric disorders.

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Sight of parasitoid wasps accelerates sexual behavior and upregulates a micropeptide gene in Drosophila

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-22712-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Shimaa A. M. Ebrahim ◽

Gaëlle J. S. Talross ◽

John R. Carlson

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Nervous System ◽

Sexual Behavior ◽

Behavioral Response ◽

Mutational Analysis ◽

Parasitoid Wasp ◽

Parasitoid Wasps ◽

Wasp Species ◽

Defensive Responses ◽

Vast Range

AbstractParasitoid wasps inflict widespread death upon the insect world. Hundreds of thousands of parasitoid wasp species kill a vast range of insect species. Insects have evolved defensive responses to the threat of wasps, some cellular and some behavioral. Here we find an unexpected response of adult Drosophila to the presence of certain parasitoid wasps: accelerated mating behavior. Flies exposed to certain wasp species begin mating more quickly. The effect is mediated via changes in the behavior of the female fly and depends on visual perception. The sight of wasps induces the dramatic upregulation in the fly nervous system of a gene that encodes a 41-amino acid micropeptide. Mutational analysis reveals that the gene is essential to the behavioral response of the fly. Our work provides a foundation for further exploration of how the activation of visual circuits by the sight of a wasp alters both sexual behavior and gene expression.

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