In Drosophila, neurosecretory cells that release peptide hormones play a prominent role in the regulation of development, growth, metabolism, and reproduction. Several types of peptidergic neurosecretory cells have been identified in the brain of Drosophila with release sites in the corpora cardiaca and anterior aorta. We show here that in adult flies the products of three neuropeptide precursors are colocalized in five pairs of large protocerebral neurosecretory cells in two clusters (designated ipc-1 and ipc-2a): Drosophila tachykinin (DTK), short neuropeptide F (sNPF) and ion transport peptide (ITP). These peptides were detected by immunocytochemistry in combination with GFP expression driven by the enhancer trap Gal4 lines c929 and Kurs-6, both of which are expressed in ipc-1 and 2a cells. This mix of colocalized peptides with seemingly unrelated functions is intriguing and prompted us to initiate analysis of the function of the ten neurosecretory cells. We investigated the role of peptide signaling from large ipc-1 and 2a cells in stress responses by monitoring the effect of starvation and desiccation in flies with levels of DTK or sNPF diminished by RNA interference. Using the Gal4-UAS system we targeted the peptide knockdown specifically to ipc-1 and 2a cells with the c929 and Kurs-6 drivers. Flies with reduced DTK or sNPF levels in these cells displayed decreased survival time at desiccation and starvation, as well as increased water loss at desiccation. Our data suggest that homeostasis during metabolic stress requires intact peptide signaling by ipc-1 and 2a neurosecretory cells.

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The central complex of the insect brain is an integration center, receiving inputs from many parts of the brain. In Drosophila it has been associated with the control of both locomotor and visually correlated behaviors. The central complex can be divided into several substructures and is comprised of a large number of neuronal types. These neurons produce classical neurotransmitters, biogenic amines, and different neuropeptides. However, the distribution of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators in central-complex circuits of Drosophila is poorly known. By immunolabeling and GAL4-directed expression of marker proteins, we analyzed the distribution of acetylcholine, glutamate, GABA, monoamines, and eight different neuropeptides; Drosophila tachykinin, short neuropeptide F, myoinhibitory peptide, allatostatin A, proctolin, SIFamide, neuropeptide F, and FMRFamide. All eight neuropeptides were localized to the fan-shaped body, the largest substructure of the central complex, and were mapped to different layers within this structure. Several populations of peptide-immunoreactive tangential and columnar neurons were identified, of which some colocalized acetylcholine. Fewer peptides were found to be expressed in the other substructures: the ellipsoid body, the protocerebral bridge, and the noduli. The ellipsoid body and the protocerebral bridge were innervated by extrinsic peptide expressing neurons. Our findings reveal that numerous neuropeptides are expressed in the central complex and that each peptide has a distinct distribution pattern, suggesting important roles for neuropeptides as neuromediators and cotransmitters in this brain area.

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Insulin-like peptides (ILPs) regulate growth, reproduction, metabolic homeostasis, life span and stress resistance in worms, flies and mammals. A set of insulin producing cells (IPCs) in the Drosophila brain that express three ILPs (DILP2, 3 and 5) have been the main focus of interest in hormonal DILP signaling. Little is, however, known about factors that regulate DILP production and release by these IPCs. Here we show that the IPCs express the metabotropic GABAB receptor (GBR), but not the ionotropic GABAA receptor subunit RDL. Diminishing the GBR expression on these cells by targeted RNA interference abbreviates life span, decreases metabolic stress resistance and alters carbohydrate and lipid metabolism at stress, but not growth in Drosophila. A direct effect of diminishing GBR on IPCs is an increase in DILP immunofluorescence in these cells, an effect that is accentuated at starvation. Knockdown of irk3, possibly part of a G protein-activated inwardly rectifying K+ channel that may link to GBRs, phenocopies GBR knockdown in starvation experiments. Our experiments suggest that the GBR is involved in inhibitory control of DILP production and release in adult flies at metabolic stress and that this receptor mediates a GABA signal from brain interneurons that may convey nutritional signals. This is the first demonstration of a neurotransmitter that inhibits insulin signaling in its regulation of metabolism, stress and life span in an invertebrate brain.