The astrocyte-enriched geneCG11000plays a crucial role in the development, locomotion and lifespan ofD. melanogaster

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is a proper model organism for studying the development and function of the nervous system. The Drosophila nervous system consists of distinct cell types with significant homologies to various cell types of more advanced organisms, including human.Among all cell types of the nervous system, astrocyte-like glia (ALG) have conserved functions to mammals and are essential for normal physiology and behaviours of the fly.In this study, we exploited the gene expression profile of single cells in Drosophila optic lobe to identify the genes with specific expression pattern in each cell type. Through a bioinformatical analysis of the data, a novel ALG-specific gene (here assigned as deathstar) was identified.Immunostaining of deathstar in the central nervous system (CNS) showed its presence in specific regions of Drosophila ventral nerve cord, which previously has been characterized as ALG cells.Consistent with the bioinformatical analysis, deathstar-related signals were overlapped with the signals of the previously-reported ALG marker, Eaat1, supporting its specific expression in ALG cells.At the physiological level, RNAi-mediated suppression of deathstar gene impeded the normal development of male flies without any effects on females. Cell type-specific expression of deathstar RNAi showed that deathstar gene affects locomotion behaviour and lifespan of D. melanogaster, in an ALG-specific manner.Taken together, we showed that bioinformatical analysis of a previously reported expression data of Drosophila optic lobe successfully predicted the ALG-specific expression pattern of deathstar gene. Moreover, it was consistent with the ALG-specific effects of this gene on locomotion and lifespan of D. melanogaster, in vivo.