Xiaoli Zhang, Dongyu Sun, Kyle Wong, Ammar Salkini, Hadi Najafi, Woo Jae Kim
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Drosophila melanogaster brain is a complex organ with various cell types, orchestrating the development, physiology, and behaviors of the fly. While each cell type in Drosophila brain is known to express a unique gene set, their complete genetic profile is still unknown. Advances in the RNA sequencing techniques at single-cell resolution facilitate identifying novel cell type markers and/or re-examining the specificity of the available ones. In this study, exploiting a single-cell RNA sequencing data of Drosophila optic lobe, we categorized the cells based on their expression pattern for known markers, then the genes with enriched expression in astrocytes were identified. CG11000 was identified as a gene with a comparable expression profile to the Eaat1 gene, an astrocyte marker, in every individual cell inside the Drosophila optic lobe and midbrain, as well as in the entire Drosophila brain throughout its development. Consistent with our bioinformatics data, immunostaining of the brains dissected from transgenic adult flies showed co-expression of CG11000 with Eaat1 in a set of single cells corresponding to the astrocytes in the Drosophila brain. Physiologically, inhibiting CG11000 through RNA interference disrupted the normal development of male D. melanogaster, while having no impact on females. Expression suppression of CG11000 in adult flies led to decreased locomotion activity and also shortened lifespan specifically in astrocytes, indicating the gene's significance in astrocytes. We designated this gene as 'deathstar' due to its crucial role in maintaining the star-like shape of glial cells, astrocytes, throughout their development into adult stage.
期刊介绍:
Fly is the first international peer-reviewed journal to focus on Drosophila research. Fly covers a broad range of biological sub-disciplines, ranging from developmental biology and organogenesis to sensory neurobiology, circadian rhythm and learning and memory, to sex determination, evolutionary biology and speciation. We strive to become the “to go” resource for every researcher working with Drosophila by providing a forum where the specific interests of the Drosophila community can be discussed. With the advance of molecular technologies that enable researchers to manipulate genes and their functions in many other organisms, Fly is now also publishing papers that use other insect model systems used to investigate important biological questions.
Fly offers a variety of papers, including Original Research Articles, Methods and Technical Advances, Brief Communications, Reviews and Meeting Reports. In addition, Fly also features two unconventional types of contributions, Counterpoints and Extra View articles. Counterpoints are opinion pieces that critically discuss controversial papers questioning current paradigms, whether justified or not. Extra View articles, which generally are solicited by Fly editors, provide authors of important forthcoming papers published elsewhere an opportunity to expand on their original findings and discuss the broader impact of their discovery. Extra View authors are strongly encouraged to complement their published observations with additional data not included in the original paper or acquired subsequently.