Article
Neurosciences
Alina Vulpe, Karen Menuz
Summary: Insects perceive most odors through two large families of olfactory receptors, the Odorant Receptors (ORs) and Ionotropic Receptors (IRs). Different tuning receptors and their co-receptors are expressed in various sensilla, with some evidence suggesting possible functional overlap between different co-receptors. The high conservation and co-expression of these co-receptors in chemosensory neurons suggest a potential partnership in other insects as well.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biology
Carlotta Pribbenow, Yi-Chun Chen, M-Marcel Heim, Desiree Laber, Silas Reubold, Eric Reynolds, Isabella Balles, Tania Fernandez-d Alquicira, Raquel Suarez-Grimalt, Lisa Scheunemann, Carolin Rauch, Tanja Matkovic, Joerg Roesner, Gregor Lichtner, Sridhar R. Jagannathan, David Owald
Summary: This study found that there is postsynaptic plasticity at cholinergic output synapses in the Drosophila mushroom bodies, which is similar to the memory formation mechanism in vertebrates. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha 5 plays a key role in appetitive memory induction, while the alpha 2 subunits mediate memory expression.
Article
Plant Sciences
Zeze Yuan, Chaohui Zhang, Weidong Zhu, Gentu Yan, Xiugui Chen, Ping Qiu, Boymurodov Ruzimurod, Wuwei Ye, Bobokhonova Zebinisso Qaraevna, Zujun Yin
Summary: Drought and salinity greatly reduce cotton production worldwide. This study compared the gene and protein expression profiles of cotton seedlings exposed to drought or salt stress, revealing the molecular mechanisms underlying the plant's response to these stressors. The study found that a number of genes involved in the MAPK signaling pathway were upregulated and exhibited enhanced stress tolerance when ectopically expressed in transgenic Arabidopsis. These findings provide important insights into the genes and pathways involved in cotton drought and salt tolerance.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ana Depetris-Chauvin, Diego Galagovsky, Ian W. Keesey, Bill S. Hansson, Silke Sachse, Markus Knaden
Summary: Olfaction is important for animals to find food, but little is known about how the olfactory system evolves and influences behavior. This study compared the olfactory systems of five drosophilid species, including Drosophila melanogaster, that inhabit different ecological niches. The researchers identified natural food odorants from each species and established species-specific odorant preferences. Analysis of the antennal lobe structure and odor coding in sensory neurons revealed that genetic distance and habitat occupancy are key factors in the evolution of olfactory receptors, odor coding, and behavior. Interestingly, changes in odor coding among species cannot be explained by evolutionary changes at a single level but rather involve multiple levels of processing.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Roshani Nhuchhen Pradhan, Bhanu Shrestha, Youngseok Lee
Summary: Recent studies have found that sweet-sensing gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) in fruit flies mediate appetitive behaviors towards fatty acids. However, it has been revealed that hexanoic acid (HA) is toxic rather than nutritious to fruit flies. At low concentrations, HA induces attraction mediated by sweet-sensing GRNs, while at high concentrations it induces aversion mediated by bitter-sensing GRNs.
MOLECULES AND CELLS
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Bhanu Shrestha, Youngseok Lee
Summary: Sour taste is a fundamental modality in taste perception for animals, with chemoreceptors in taste organs crucial for discriminating between different chemicals for survival. Animals generally prefer slightly acidic foods and avoid highly acidic alternatives. Some carboxylic acids are highly attractive to fruit flies, while all acids become aversive at high concentrations, mediated by low pH and specific anions.
MOLECULES AND CELLS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alina Vulpe, Hyong S. Kim, Sydney Ballou, Shiuan-Tze Wu, Veit Grabe, Cesar Nava Gonzales, Tiffany Liang, Silke Sachse, James M. Jeanne, Chih-Ying Su, Karen Menuz
Summary: Ammonia attracts various insects, including hematophagous ones and fruit flies, but most insect genomes lack the gene responsible for ammonia sensitivity.
Article
Developmental Biology
Alexandra Atienza-Manuel, Vicente Castillo-Mancho, Stefano De Renzis, Joaquim Culi, Mar Ruiz-Gomez
Summary: The complex composed of Amnionless, Cubilin, and Cubilin2 is crucial for nephrocyte slit diaphragm (SD) dynamics in Drosophila. Loss of CUBAM-mediated endocytosis leads to dramatic morphological changes in nephrocytes and mislocalisation of SD, likely due to an imbalance between endocytosis and exocytosis. While rescuing receptor-mediated endocytosis can partially restore SD positioning in CUBAM mutants, suggesting a specific requirement of CUBAM in SD degradation and recycling.
Article
Neurosciences
Alisa A. Omelchenko, Hua Bai, Emma C. Spina, Jordan J. Tyrrell, Jackson T. Wilbourne, Lina Ni
Summary: This study investigates the mechanism of temperature sensing and response in fruit fly larvae. It finds that the Rh1 and PLC cascade regulate fast and slow temperature responses. Ionotropic receptors play different roles in response to different temperature changes, while the Rh1 cascade and warm receptors are crucial in selecting preferred temperatures and guiding larvae to suitable temperature zones.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Nitin S. Chouhan, Amita Sehgal
Summary: Sleep is a universally conserved physiological state that contributes to basic organismal functions, including cognitive operations like learning and memory. This study shows that fruit flies can form memory with or without sleep, depending on the perception of sweet taste. The processing of sweet taste reward signals plays a role in sleep-dependent memory consolidation.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ben Ewen-Campen, Haojiang Luan, Jun Xua, Rohit Singh, Neha Joshi, Tanuj Thakkar, Bonnie Berger, Benjamin H. White, Norbert Perrimon
Summary: The split-Gal4 system based on a self-excising split-intein enables genetic labeling of specific cell types and tissues in Drosophila with temporal control. It can be repressed by Gal80 and can be combined with the drug-inducible GeneSwitch system for inducible control. In addition, the system can generate highly specific genetic drivers based on scRNAseq datasets and provides a plasmid toolkit for efficient driver creation.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Erika A. Keshishian, Brannan R. Cliver, William F. McLaughlin, H. Tucker Hallmark, Lenka Plackova, Leslie R. Goertzen, Ondrej Novak, Paul A. Cobine, Courtney P. Leisner, Aaron M. Rashotte
Summary: Cytokinin is important for development and abiotic stress response, and CYTOKININ RESPONSE FACTOR 2 (CRF2) is involved in salt stress response. CRF2 regulates cytokinin biosynthesis genes and ion content, and plays a role in modulating photosynthesis during salt stress.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Aude Andouche, Stephane Valera, Sebastien Baratte
Summary: This study explores the distribution and function of the chemosensory receptor family member IR25 in cephalopods, indicating its significant role in prey and conspecific detection. Additionally, the presence of IR25 positive cells in fins suggests that fins in cephalopods may serve as additional chemosensory organs.
Article
Cell Biology
Carles Recasens-Alvarez, Cyrille Alexandre, Joanna Kirkpatrick, Hisashi Nojima, David J. Huels, Ambrosius P. Snijders, Jean-Paul Vincent
Summary: Ribosomes are essential molecular machines for protein synthesis, and deficiencies in ribosomal proteins can lead to proteotoxic stress and cell apoptosis. Modulating the integrated stress response and autophagy can affect the severity of ribosomal protein deficiency-induced harm, suggesting potential cytoprotective strategies for ribosomopathies.
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Macarena Paredes-Mealla, Veronica Martinez-Borba, Marta Miragall, Azucena Garcia-Palacios, Rosa Ma Banos, Carlos Suso-Ribera
Summary: The prevalence of emotional disorders has increased, and emotional reasoning plays an important role. Research suggests an association between emotional reasoning and severity of anxious symptoms, but no significant differences in depressive symptoms. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy showed no impact on emotional reasoning bias, while computerized experiential training was effective in reducing emotional reasoning bias.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hany K. M. Dweck, John R. Carlson
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammed A. Khallaf, Thomas O. Auer, Veit Grabe, Ana Depetris-Chauvin, Byrappa Ammagarahalli, Dan-Dan Zhang, Sofia Lavista-Llanos, Filip Kaftan, Jerrit Weissflog, Luciano M. Matzkin, Stephanie M. Rollmann, Christer Lofstedt, Ales Svatos, Hany K. M. Dweck, Silke Sachse, Richard Benton, Bill S. Hansson, Markus Knaden
Article
Biology
Hany K. M. Dweck, Gaelle J. S. Talross, Wanyue Wang, John R. Carlson
Summary: The agricultural pest Drosophila suzukii lays eggs in ripe fruit instead of overripe fruit like other Drosophila species, accompanied by changes in bitter taste perception. D. suzukii has lost 20% of bitter-sensing sensilla and physiological responses to bitter compounds, allowing them to adapt and lay eggs in ripe fruit that deter other species.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shimaa A. M. Ebrahim, Gaelle J. S. Talross, John R. Carlson
Summary: The study found that adult Drosophila exhibit accelerated mating behavior at the sight of certain parasitoid wasps, representing a new host defense mechanism against the threat of wasps. This response is mediated by the upregulation of a nervous system gene that encodes a 41-amino acid micropeptide.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Svetlana Deryusheva, Gaelle J. S. Talross, Joseph G. Gall
Summary: In eukaryotes, rRNAs and spliceosomal snRNAs undergo extensive post-transcriptional modifications, mainly pseudouridylation and 2'-O-methylation. While snoRNAs and scaRNAs guide these modifications, not all predicted guide RNAs induce modifications on the same target sequence within endogenous RNA molecules.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mohammed A. Khallaf, Rongfeng Cui, Jerrit Weissflog, Maide Erdogmus, Ales Svatos, Hany K. M. Dweck, Dario Riccardo Valenzano, Bill S. Hansson, Markus Knaden
Summary: Research on fruit flies using whole-genome sequences, chemical and behavioral data has revealed that sex pheromones and their associated olfactory channels evolve rapidly and independently to strengthen sexual isolation barriers between species.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gaelle J. S. Talross, Svetlana Deryusheva, Joseph G. Gall
Summary: This study revealed that some snoRNAs are encoded within unusually stable intronic RNAs, which can escape the action of relevant enzymes and form stable lariats. These lariats are associated with snoRNA binding proteins, but cannot guide posttranscriptional modifications, and some can be transported to the cytoplasm.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Siyang Xia, Hany K. M. Dweck, Joel Lutomiah, Rosemary Sang, Carolyn S. McBride, Noah H. Rose, Diego Ayala, Jeffrey R. Powell
Summary: Adaptations to anthropogenic domestic habitats have contributed to the success of the mosquito Aedes aegypti as a major global vector of diseases. The species originally inhabited African forests before moving into domestic habitats, with the transition from natural to artificial larval sites playing a key role in their evolution. African Ae. aegypti are shown to be generalists in their choice of larval sites, accepting various containers with different conditions, which may have facilitated their domestic evolution.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biology
Wanyue Wang, Hany K. M. Dweck, Gaelle J. S. Talross, Ali Zaidi, Joshua M. Gendron, John R. Carlson
Summary: This study explores the differences in sensation and taste between the agricultural pest Drosophila suzukii and other Drosophila species, and finds that D. suzukii has undergone various changes in sweet taste sensation and mechanosensation, which are likely to contribute to its differences in egg-laying preferences.
Meeting Abstract
Behavioral Sciences
Wanyue Wang, Hany K. M. Dweck, Gaelle Talross, Joshua Gendron, John R. Carlson