The effect of mutations altering biogenic amine metabolism in Drosophila on viability and the response to environmental stresses

Abstract

Dopamine (DA) content, tyrosine decarboxylase (TDC) activity and survival were studied under normal and environmental stress conditions in the ste and e strains carrying ebony mutation increasing DA level and the octopamineless strain Tbetah(nM18) of Drosophila melanogaster. Wild-type strains Canton S and Oregon R, and strain p845 from which Tbetah(nM18) strain was derived were used as controls. Sexual dimorphism of TDC activity, DA content, and survival in flies of all D. melanogaster strains under study was found. Tbetah(nM18) mutation sharply reduced TDC activity in females, while ebony had no such effect. DA content and survival under heat stress in Tbetah(nM18) flies did not differ from those in the wild type. ste and e flies had drastically increased DA content under normal conditions, dramatically decreased survival under heat stress, but increased survival under starvation. DA content and survival under heat stress were also studied in the reciprocal hybrids (males) F(1) of the cross D. virilis strains 101 (wild type) and 147 with X-linked mutation, which significantly increases DA content. 147x101 males had a considerably higher DA content and lower survival than 101x147 ones. Individuals of all D. melanogaster strains under study developed the stress reaction, as judged by changes in TDC activity and DA levels. The role of biogenic amines in the stress reaction development and adaptation to environmental stresses in Drosophila is discussed. Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 55:55-67, 2004.

Social interactions influence dopamine and octopamine homeostasis in the brain of the ant Formica japonica

“…Conversely, starvation stress did not affect OA levels and there was no relationship between OA and trophallaxis in the starved ants. Yet, it is well known that various stressors such as high/low temperature and high population density affect OA level in insects (Woodring et al, 1988;Rauschenbach et al, 1993;Gruntenko et al, 2004;Neckameyer and Weinstein, 2005;Chen et al, 2008). We demonstrated a slight effect of starvation on OA level and thus there may be a role for OA in starvation stress and social behavior in F. japonica.…”

“…Also, administration of OA changed the duration of trophallaxis in socially deprived C. fellah workers (Boulay et al, 2000a;Boulay et al, 2000b). Additionally, it is well known that stress, resulting from temperature, mechanical or chemical stimuli, population density and starvation, modulates biogenic amine levels in the insect brain (Chen et al, 2008;Gruntenko et al, 2004;Rauschenbach et al, 1993;Woodring et al, 1988;Neckameyer and Weinstein, 2005). However, the relationship between brain biogenic amines and social behaviors in ants remains unclear.…”

Using double-stranded RNA to explore the role of heat shock protein genes in heat tolerance in Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius)

“…Female D. melanogaster (Dahlgaard et al, 1998;Lansing et al, 2000), Drosophila buzzatii (Sørensen et al, 1999;Sørensen et al, 2005;Sarup et al, 2006) and A. aegypti (Andersen et al, 2006) all tolerate high temperature stress better than males. In these species tolerance to heat stress has been shown to be related to the level of dopamine expression (Gruntenko et al, 2004;Andersen et al, 2006). Our results show that this difference is related, at least in part, to the level of expression of hsp23 and hsp70.…”

Disruption of insulin signalling affects the neuroendocrine stress reaction in Drosophila females

“…In these species, DA content increases sharply as early as 15 min after the beginning of stress exposure (38°C) (Rauschenbach et al, 1993;Hirashima et al, 2000b;Gruntenko et al, 2004). The increase in DA content is followed by a sharp decrease in the activity of the key enzyme of its synthesis, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and this decrease continues for up to 60 min after the onset of stress exposure (Rauschenbach et al, 1995b).…”