Cell-specific immuno-probes for the brain of normal and mutant Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

We have screened antibodies for immunocytochemical staining in the optic lobes of the brain of Drosophila melanogaster. Seven polyclonal antisera and five monoclonal antibodies are described that selectively and reproducibly stain individual cells and/or produce characteristic staining patterns in the neuropile. Such antisera are useful for the cellular characterization of molecular and structural brain defects in visual mutants. In the wildtype visual system we can at present separately stain the following: the entire complement of columnar "T1" neurons; a small set of presumptive serotonergic neurons; some 3000 cells that contain and synthesize gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA); and three groups of cells that bind antibodies to Ca2+-binding proteins. In addition, small groups of hitherto unknown tangential cells that send fine arborizations into specific strata of the medulla, and two patterns of characteristic layers in the visual neuropile have been identified by use of monoclonal antibodies generated following immunization of mice with homogenates of the brain of Drosophila melanogaster.

Comparative sequence analysis and tissue localization of members of the SLC6 family of transporters in adultDrosophila melanogaster

“…Between the medulla and lobula, CG1732 labels a subset of giant glia at the inner chiasm (barbed arrow in Fig.·4A), a region that contains only glial and not neuronal cell bodies (Tix et al, 1997). This pattern is substantively different than that of GABA immunolabelled cells, which have cell bodies throughout the cortex surrounding the medulla and in a large cluster next to the lobula (Buchner et al, 1988).…”

“…In Drosophila, the pattern of CG1732 label only partially overlaps with the pattern of GABA immunolabelling in the optic lobes (Buchner et al, 1988). The GABA antibody labels approximately 1500 somata in the cortex of the medulla and, in the neuropil, there is faint label in the lamina, and denser label in the medulla.…”

“…Four candidates, SerT, DAT, CG1732 and CG10804, showed enriched expression in the head and thorax of both males and females. The cell bodies of the CNS are found in the head and thorax, and cells that immunolabel for serotonin (Valles and White, 1988), dopamine (Budnik and White, 1988;Nassel and Elekes, 1992) and GABA (Buchner et al, 1988) reside within the CNS. Expression of the orphan transporter, CG10804, was only found in the head and thorax, suggesting that CG10804 functions in the CNS.…”

“…The monoamines histamine and serotonin are both present in the lamina, histamine in the photoreceptors and serotonin in nerve terminals that course amongst the monopolar cell bodies in the lamina cortex (Buchner et al, 1988;Pollack and Hofbauer, 1991). A vesicular transporter in glia is not without precedent.…”

Seizure Sensitivity Is Ameliorated by Targeted Expression of K+–Cl− Cotransporter Function in the Mushroom Body of the Drosophila Brain

“…Inhibitory synaptic transmission in Drosophila is thought to be mediated primarily by GABAergic neurons found throughout the CNS at all stages of development (Buchner et al 1988;Jackson et al 1990;Harrison et al 1996;Yasuyama et al 2002). g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is synthesized from glutamate via a conserved glutamic acid decarboxylase encoded by the Drosophila Gad1 gene ( Jackson et al 1990;Buchner 1991).…”