Animals discriminate stimuli, learn their predictive value and use this knowledge to modify their behavior. In Drosophila, the mushroom body (MB) plays a key role in these processes. Sensory stimuli are sparsely represented by ∼2000 Kenyon cells, which converge onto 34 output neurons (MBONs) of 21 types. We studied the role of MBONs in several associative learning tasks and in sleep regulation, revealing the extent to which information flow is segregated into distinct channels and suggesting possible roles for the multi-layered MBON network. We also show that optogenetic activation of MBONs can, depending on cell type, induce repulsion or attraction in flies. The behavioral effects of MBON perturbation are combinatorial, suggesting that the MBON ensemble collectively represents valence. We propose that local, stimulus-specific dopaminergic modulation selectively alters the balance within the MBON network for those stimuli. Our results suggest that valence encoded by the MBON ensemble biases memory-based action selection.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04580.001

Electrical silencing of Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons through targeted expression of K+ channels causes severe deficits in free-running circadian locomotor rhythmicity in complete darkness. Pacemaker electrical silencing also stops the free-running oscillation of PERIOD (PER) and TIMELESS (TIM) proteins that constitutes the core of the cell-autonomous molecular clock. In contrast, electrical silencing fails to abolish PER and TIM oscillation in light-dark cycles, although it does impair rhythmic behavior. On the basis of these findings, we propose that electrical activity is an essential element of the free-running molecular clock of pacemaker neurons along with the transcription factors and regulatory enzymes that have been previously identified as required for clock function.

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Molecular genetics has revealed the identities of several components of the fundamental circadian molecular oscillator - an evolutionarily conserved molecular mechanism of transcription and translation that can operate in a cell-autonomous manner. Therefore, it was surprising when studies of circadian rhythmic behavior in the fruit fly Drosophila suggested that the normal operations of circadian clock cells, which house the molecular oscillator, in fact depend on non-cell-autonomous effects - interactions between the clock cells themselves. Here we review several genetic analyses that broadly extend that viewpoint. They support a model whereby the approximately 150 circadian clock cells in the brain of the fly are sub-divided into functionally discrete rhythmic centers. These centers alternatively cooperate or compete to control the different episodes of rhythmic behavior that define the fly's daily activity profile.

A subset of Drosophila neurons that expresses crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) has been shown previously to make the hormone bursicon, which is required for cuticle tanning and wing expansion after eclosion. Here we present evidence that CCAP-expressing neurons (N CCAP ) consist of two functionally distinct groups, one of which releases bursicon into the hemolymph and the other of which regulates its release. The first group, which we call N CCAP -c929, includes 14 bursicon-expressing neurons of the abdominal ganglion that lie within the expression pattern of the enhancer-trap line c929-Gal4. We show that suppression of activity within this group blocks bursicon release into the hemolymph together with tanning and wing expansion. The second group, which we call N CCAP -R, consists of N CCAP neurons outside the c929-Gal4 pattern. Because suppression of synaptic transmission and protein kinase A (PKA) activity throughout N CCAP , but not in N CCAP -c929, also blocks tanning and wing expansion, we conclude that neurotransmission and PKA are required in N CCAP -R to regulate bursicon secretion from N CCAP -c929. Enhancement of electrical activity in N CCAP -R by expression of the bacterial sodium channel NaChBac also blocks tanning and wing expansion and leads to depletion of bursicon from central processes. NaChBac expression in N CCAP -c929 is without effect, suggesting that the abdominal bursicon-secreting neurons are likely to be silent until stimulated to release the hormone. Our results suggest that N CCAP form an interacting neuronal network responsible for the regulation and release of bursicon and suggest a model in which PKA-mediated stimulation of inputs to normally quiescent bursicon-expressing neurons activates release of the hormone.

Summary Background Imbalances in amount and timing of sleep are harmful to physical and mental health. Therefore, the study of the underlying mechanisms is of great biological importance. Proper timing and amount of sleep is regulated by both the circadian clock and homeostatic sleep drive. However, very little is known about the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the circadian clock regulates sleep. In this study we describe a novel role for DIURETIC HORMONE 31 (DH31), the fly homologue of the vertebrate neuropeptide CALCITONIN GENE RELATED PEPTIDE (CGRP), as a circadian wake-promoting signal that awakens the fly in anticipation of dawn. Results Analysis of loss-of-function and gain-of-function Drosophila mutants demonstrates that DH31 suppresses sleep late at night. DH31 is expressed by a subset of dorsal circadian clock neurons that also express the receptor for the circadian neuropeptide PIGMENT DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF). PDF secreted by the ventral pacemaker subset of circadian clock neurons acts on PDF receptors in the DH31-expressing dorsal clock neurons to increase DH31 secretion before dawn. Activation of PDFR in DH31 positive DN1 specifically affects sleep and has no effect on circadian rhythms, thus constituting a dedicated locus for circadian regulation of sleep. Conclusions We identified a novel signaling molecule (DH31) as part of a neuropeptide relay mechanism for circadian control of sleep. Our results indicate that outputs of the clock controlling sleep and locomotor rhythms are mediated via distinct neuronal/cellular channels.

Neuropeptides modulate neural circuits controlling adaptive animal behaviors and physiological processes, such as feeding/metabolism, reproductive behaviors, circadian rhythms, central pattern generation, and sensorimotor integration. Invertebrate model systems have enabled detailed experimental analysis using combined genetic, behavioral, and physiological approaches. Here we review selected examples of neuropeptide modulation in crustaceans, mollusks, insects, and nematodes, with a particular emphasis on the genetic model organisms Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans, where remarkable progress has been made. On the basis of this survey, we provide several integrating conceptual principles for understanding how neuropeptides modulate circuit function, and also propose that continued progress in this area requires increased emphasis on the development of richer, more sophisticated behavioral paradigms.

SUMMARY Nervous systems process information by integrating the electrical activity of neurons in complex networks. This motivates the long-standing interest in using optical methods to simultaneously monitor the membrane potential of multiple genetically targeted neurons via expression of genetically encoded fluorescent voltage indicators (GEVIs) in intact neural circuits. No currently available GEVIs have demonstrated robust signals in intact brain tissue that enable reliable recording of individual electrical events simultaneously in multiple neurons. Here, we show that the recently developed “ArcLight” GEVI robustly reports both subthreshold events and action potentials in genetically targeted neurons in the intact Drosophila fruit fly brain and reveals electrical signals in neurite branches. In the same way that genetically encoded fluorescent sensors have revolutionized the study of intracellular Ca2+ signals, ArcLight now enables optical measurement in intact neural circuits of membrane potential, the key cellular parameter that underlies neuronal information processing.