Sight of parasitoid wasps accelerates sexual behavior and upregulates a micropeptide gene in Drosophila

Abstract

Parasitoid wasps inflict widespread death upon the insect world. Hundreds of thousands of parasitoid wasp species kill a vast range of insect species, and many such wasps are used globally to control insect pests. Insects have evolved defensive responses to the threat of wasps, some cellular and some behavioral. However, the nature of these responses and the mechanisms that underlie them await further exploration. Here we find an unexpected response of adult Drosophila to the presence of certain parasitoid wasps: accelerated mating behavior. Flies exposed to certain wasp species begin mating more quickly. The effect is mediated via changes in the behavior of the female fly and depends on visual perception. The sight of wasps induces the dramatic upregulation in the fly nervous system of a gene that encodes a 41-amino acid micropeptide. Mutational analysis reveals that the gene is essential to the behavioral response of the fly. Our work provides a foundation in a genetic model system for further exploration of how the activation of visual circuits by the sight of a parasitoid wasp alters both sexual behavior and gene expression.

Repeated truncation of a modular antimicrobial peptide gene for neural context

“…There is building evidence that immune-induced AMPs and AMP-like genes affect the nervous system. Loss of Metchnikowin protects flies from neurodegeneration after traumatic brain injury (Swanson et al 2020), Induced by infection (IBIN) regulates behavioural changes in flies after seeing parasitoid wasps (Ebrahim et al 2021), epidermal nematode AMPs trigger motor neuron autophagy (Lezi et al 2018) and sleep (Sinner et al 2021) after infection, and loss of Diptericin B produced by the fat body leads to memory deficits in Drosophila (Barajas-azpeleta et al 2018). This last example is intriguing, as Diptericin B also encodes a polypeptide maturated by furin cleavage, and its effect on memory was derived from peptide secreted into the hemolymph by the fat body and not from neural expression.…”

“…Studies in nematodes have also shown that an immune-induced polypeptide (NLP-29) binds to a G-protein coupled receptor (NPR-12) triggering neurodegeneration through activation of the NPR-12-dependent autophagy pathway (Lezi et al 2018), and injury triggers epidermal AMPs including NLP-29 to promote sleep (Sinner et al 2021). Drosophila AMPs have also recently been shown to regulate behaviours after seeing parasitoid wasps (Ebrahim et al 2021), during feeding with different bacteria (Kobler et al 2020), or following infection (Hanson et al 2021). In humans, the Cathelicidin gene encodes the AMP LL-37, which is implicated in glia-mediated neuroinflammation and Alzheimer's disease (Lee et al 2015;De Lorenzi et al 2017), alongside evidence of Alzheimer's being an infectious syndrome (Dominy et al 2019); though the importance of this process is debated (Abbott 2020).…”

Central precocious puberty occurring in Bardet‑Biedl syndrome‑10 as a method for self‑protection of human reproductive function: A case report

“…No pathogenic allelic variants of genes known to cause monogenic CPP (KISS1 receptor, KiSS-1 metastasis suppressor, makorin ring finger protein 3 and δ like non-canonical Notch ligand 1) (26-28) were found in the present case. Perhaps hints can be taken from other biological studies; for example, adult Drosophila accelerate their mating behavior to defend against the threat of certain parasitic wasps (29). It is unclear whether CPP occurring in BBS-10 would be a prelude of gonad dysplasia (30) or a self-protection mechanism of human reproductive function.…”

Loss of self-tolerance leads to altered gene expression and IMD pathway activation inDrosophila melanogaster

“…On the other hand, a large number of long ncRNAs (lncRNAs; >200 nt) show differential expression in these mutants (Figure 6C-D). Amongst the lncRNAs upregulated in both tuSz 1 and hop Tum , Induced by infection (IBIN) is the only lncRNA that has been studied in the context of Drosophila immunity, although it has been proposed that IBIN encodes a short peptide that confers its function (Valanne et al 2019;Ebrahim et al 2021). The significant upregulation of lncRNAs in both genotypes highlights the potential importance of lncRNAs in mediating immune priming and autoimmune responses.…”