The <i>foraging</i> gene of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>: Spatial‐expression analysis and sucrose responsiveness

Belay, Amsale T.; Scheiner, Ricarda; So, Anthony K.-C.; Douglas, Scott J.; Chakaborty-Chatterjee, M.; Levine, Joel D.; Sokolowski, Marla B.

doi:10.1002/cne.21466

Cited by 56 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Immunohistochemistry was as in Belay et al (2007). Briefly, whole brains were dissected in PBS (0.1 M, pH 7.4), fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, and blocked in 4% normal goat serum (Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA) in 0.5% Triton X-100/ PBS.…”

Section: Immunocytochemistry and Neuronal Stainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Briefly, whole brains were dissected in PBS (0.1 M, pH 7.4), fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, and blocked in 4% normal goat serum (Jackson ImmunoResearch, West Grove, PA) in 0.5% Triton X-100/ PBS. The specific guinea pig antibody called anti-FOR, described in Belay et al (2007), was used at 1:150; the neuropile marker mouse mAb nc82 was used at 1:20 (22, 23). Incubation was for 48 h at 41C.…”

Section: Immunocytochemistry and Neuronal Stainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The locust foraging gene

Lucas

Kornfein

Chakaborty-Chatterjee

et al. 2010

Arch Insect Biochem Physiol

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Our knowledge of how genes act on the nervous system in response to the environment to generate behavioral plasticity is limited. A number of recent advancements in this area concern food-related behaviors and a specific gene family called foraging (for), which encodes a cGMPdependent protein kinase (PKG). The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is notorious for its destructive feeding and long-term migratory behavior. Locust phase polyphenism is an extreme example of environmentally induced behavioral plasticity. In response to changes in population density, locusts dramatically alter their behavior, from solitary and relatively sedentary behavior to active aggregation and swarming. Very little is known about the molecular and genetic basis of this striking behavioral phenomenon. Here we initiated studies into the locust for gene by identifying, cloning, and studying expression of the gene in the locust brain. We determined the phylogenetic relationships between the locust PKG and other known PKG proteins in insects. FOR expression was found to be confined to neurons of the anterior midline of the brain, the pars intercerebralis. Our results suggest that differences in PKG enzyme activity are correlated to well-established phase-related behavioral differences. These results lay the groundwork for functional studies of the locust for gene and its possible relations to locust phase polyphenism.

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Section: Immunocytochemistry and Neuronal Stainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Immunocytochemistry and Neuronal Stainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The locust foraging gene

Lucas

Kornfein

Chakaborty-Chatterjee

et al. 2010

Arch Insect Biochem Physiol

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“…In addition, well-fed rover larvae have lower food intake than sitters. Adult rovers and sitters show flexible responses to food deprivation as reflected in behavioural, metabolomic and microarray data [48,49]. As mentioned above, the for gene also plays a role in food-related behaviours in C. elegans, D. melanogaster, A. mellifera, P. barbatus and P. pallidula [50][51][52][53].…”

Section: Case Studies In the Conservation Of Gene Function In Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 98%

Conservation of gene function in behaviour

Reaume

Sokolowski

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Behaviour genetic research has shown that a given gene or gene pathway can influence categorically similar behaviours in different species. Questions about the conservation of gene function in behaviour are increasingly tractable. This is owing to the surge of DNA and 'omics data, bioinformatic tools, as well as advances in technologies for behavioural phenotyping. Here, we discuss how gene function, as a hierarchical biological phenomenon, can be used to examine behavioural homology across species. The question can be addressed independently using different levels of investigation including the DNA sequence, the gene's position in a genetic pathway, spatial-temporal tissue expression and neural circuitry. Selected examples from the literature are used to illustrate this point. We will also discuss how qualitative and quantitative comparisons of the behavioural phenotype, its function and the importance of environmental and social context should be used in cross-species comparisons. We conclude that (i) there are homologous behaviours, (ii) they are hard to define and (iii) neurogenetics and genomics investigations should help in this endeavour.

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“…Since we did not find a robust role for for in larval visual conditioning and the mushroom bodies are necessary for olfactory conditioning, we hypothesized that for may play a role in mushroom-body mediated olfactory conditioning. FOR is expressed in the mushroom-body neuropiles and calyx, providing further indication that for may affect memory acquisition via the mushroom bodies (Belay et al 2007). …”

Section: The Role Of For In Visual Reward Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural variation in Drosophila larval reward learning and memory due to a cGMP-dependent protein kinase

Kaun

Hendel²,

Gerber³

et al. 2007

Learn. Mem.

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Animals must be able to find and evaluate food to ensure survival. The ability to associate a cue with the presence of food is advantageous because it allows an animal to quickly identify a situation associated with a good, bad, or even harmful food. Identifying genes underlying these natural learned responses is essential to understanding this ability. Here, we investigate whether natural variation in the foraging (for) gene in Drosophila melanogaster larvae is important in mediating associations between either an odor or a light stimulus and food reward. We found that for influences olfactory conditioning and that the mushroom bodies play a role in this for-mediated olfactory learning. Genotypes associated with high activity of the product of for, cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG), showed greater memory acquisition and retention compared with genotypes associated with low activity of PKG when trained with three conditioning trials. Interestingly, increasing the number of training trials resulted in decreased memory retention only in genotypes associated with high PKG activity. The difference in the dynamics of memory acquisition and retention between variants of for suggests that the ability to learn and retain an association may be linked to the foraging strategies of the two variants.Learned associations such as identifying odors as indicators of food, or showing preferences for food-related odors, are conserved across diverse taxa from humans and mice to slugs, honeybees, and fruit flies (Ache and Young 2005). The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster can use odors as cues for the presence of both a food reward and an aversive stimulus (Tempel et al. 1983;Scherer et al. 2003;Schwaerzel et al. 2003;Margulies et al. 2005;McGuire et al. 2005;Kim et al. 2007). Identifying genes underlying these natural learned responses is essential to understanding this ability. Here, we use classical reward conditioning to investigate how natural variation in the foraging (for) gene affects acquisition and decay of memory in D. melanogaster larvae.for encodes a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) (Osborne et al. 1997). In mammals, PKG is important for proper induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) (Hartell 1994;Zhuo et al. 1994;Lev-Ram et al. 1997;Arancio et al. 2001;Fiel et al. 2003Fiel et al. , 2005Kleppisch et al. 2003;Hofmann et al. 2006). Although LTP and LTD are thought to be important mechanisms underlying learning and memory (Whitlock et al. 2006), few studies have shown a direct role for PKG in learning and memory. This study aims to do this by investigating how learning differs between allelic variants of for in Drosophila larvae.for is an ideal candidate to study how natural genetic variation can affect learning and memory, since natural for variants exist that have subtle but significant variations in PKG activity (Osborne et al. 1997). The rover variants of for (for R ) have higher for transcript levels and higher PKG activities compared with the sitter variants of for (for s ) (Osb...

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The foraging gene of Drosophila melanogaster: Spatial‐expression analysis and sucrose responsiveness

Cited by 56 publications

References 53 publications

The locust foraging gene

The locust foraging gene

Conservation of gene function in behaviour

Natural variation in Drosophila larval reward learning and memory due to a cGMP-dependent protein kinase

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