A subset of octopaminergic neurons are important for Drosophila aggression

Zhou, Chuan; Rao, Yong; Rao, Yi

doi:10.1038/nn.2164

Cited by 274 publications

(288 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Octopamine plays an important role in the regulation of a variety of fly behaviors, such as sleep (38), learning (44), and aggression (45). It is of interest to investigate whether and how different subsets of octopaminergic neurons modulate different behaviors in flies (45,46).…”

Section: Canton-s +Sucrosementioning

confidence: 99%

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Octopamine mediates starvation-induced hyperactivity in adult Drosophila

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

171

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Starved animals often exhibit elevated locomotion, which has been speculated to partly resemble foraging behavior and facilitate food acquisition and energy intake. Despite its importance, the neural mechanism underlying this behavior remains unknown in any species. In this study we confirmed and extended previous findings that starvation induced locomotor activity in adult fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster. We also showed that starvationinduced hyperactivity was directed toward the localization and acquisition of food sources, because it could be suppressed upon the detection of food cues via both central nutrient-sensing and peripheral sweet-sensing mechanisms, via induction of food ingestion. We further found that octopamine, the insect counterpart of vertebrate norepinephrine, as well as the neurons expressing octopamine, were both necessary and sufficient for starvationinduced hyperactivity. Octopamine was not required for starvation-induced changes in feeding behaviors, suggesting independent regulations of energy intake behaviors upon starvation. Taken together, our results establish a quantitative behavioral paradigm to investigate the regulation of energy homeostasis by the CNS and identify a conserved neural substrate that links organismal metabolic state to a specific behavioral output.T he CNS plays an essential role in energy homeostasis (1). It actively monitors changes in the internal energy state and modulates an array of physiological and behavioral responses to enable energy homeostasis. Foraging behavior is critical for the localization and acquisition of food supply and hence energy homeostasis. It has been extensively documented both in ethological settings (2, 3) and under well-controlled laboratory conditions (4). Laboratory rodents with limited food access exhibit stereotypic food anticipatory activity (FAA) several hours before the mealtime, which is characterized by a steady increase in locomotion and other appetitive behaviors (5). The neural substrate that drives FAA still remains elusive (5, 6). Notably, the regulation of FAA seems to be dissociable from that of feeding behavior (7,8). These results hint at the presence of an independent and somewhat discrete regulatory mechanism of foraging behavior.Foraging behavior has also been extensively studied in invertebrate species such as the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (9) and fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster (10). Roundworm populations exhibit two naturally emerged foraging patterns: "solitary" worms disperse across the bacterial lawn, and "social" worms aggregate along the food edge and form clumps (9). This behavioral dimorphism is controlled by natural variations of the npr-1 (neuropeptide receptor resemblance) gene that encodes a receptor homologous to the receptor family of orexigenic neuropeptide Y in mammals (9). A comparable scenario has also been identified in larval fruit flies (10), with two distinct forms of foraging present in nature: "rover" and "sitter." On food sources, sitter but not rover reduces moving speed ...

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Section: Canton-s +Sucrosementioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is of interest to investigate whether and how different subsets of octopaminergic neurons modulate different behaviors in flies (45,46). Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that many of these behaviors regulated by octopamine signaling have a locomotor component.…”

Section: Canton-s +Sucrosementioning

confidence: 99%

Octopamine mediates starvation-induced hyperactivity in adult Drosophila

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

171

180

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“…The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has recently emerged as a model system to study aggression [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] . Several conserved neuromodulators have been shown to play a role in fly aggression [5][6][7] . For example, serotonin plays a critical role in the modulation of aggression across a broad range of species but the effect is different in vertebrates and invertebrates 13,14 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tailless and Atrophin control Drosophila aggression by regulating neuropeptide signalling in the pars intercerebralis

et al. 2014

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Aggressive behaviour is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. However, its mechanisms are poorly understood, and the degree of molecular conservation between distantly related species is unknown. Here we show that knockdown of tailless (tll) increases aggression in Drosophila, similar to the effect of its mouse orthologue Nr2e1. Tll localizes to the adult pars intercerebralis (PI), which shows similarity to the mammalian hypothalamus. Knockdown of tll in the PI is sufficient to increase aggression and is rescued by co-expressing human NR2E1. Knockdown of Atrophin, a Tll co-repressor, also increases aggression, and both proteins physically interact in the PI. tll knockdown-induced aggression is fully suppressed by blocking neuropeptide processing or release from the PI. In addition, genetically activating PI neurons increases aggression, mimicking the aggression-inducing effect of hypothalamic stimulation. Together, our results suggest that a transcriptional control module regulates neuropeptide signalling from the neurosecretory cells of the brain to control aggressive behaviour.

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“…Variation in aggression has a significant genetic component (15)(16)(17). Evolutionary conserved genes affecting neurotransmitter signaling and metabolism affect aggressive behavior, including serotonin (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), monoamine oxidase A (25, 26), dopamine (20), octopamine (20,27), nitric oxide (28), and GABA (29). Increased aggression is associated with mutations in androgen and estrogen signaling in vertebrates (30) and sex determination in Drosophila (31,32).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex genetic architecture of Drosophila aggressive behavior

Zwarts

Magwire

Carbone

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Epistasis and pleiotropy feature prominently in the genetic architecture of quantitative traits but are difficult to assess in outbred populations. We performed a diallel cross among coisogenic Drosophila P-element mutations associated with hyperaggressive behavior and showed extensive epistatic and pleiotropic effects on aggression, brain morphology, and genome-wide transcript abundance in head tissues. Epistatic interactions were often of greater magnitude than homozygous effects, and the topology of epistatic networks varied among these phenotypes. The transcriptional signatures of homozygous and double heterozygous genotypes derived from the six mutations imply a large mutational target for aggressive behavior and point to evolutionarily conserved genetic mechanisms and neural signaling pathways affecting this universal fitness trait.

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A subset of octopaminergic neurons are important for Drosophila aggression

Cited by 274 publications

References 45 publications

Octopamine mediates starvation-induced hyperactivity in adult Drosophila

Octopamine mediates starvation-induced hyperactivity in adult Drosophila

Tailless and Atrophin control Drosophila aggression by regulating neuropeptide signalling in the pars intercerebralis

Complex genetic architecture of Drosophila aggressive behavior

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