Serotonergic neurons translate taste detection into internal nutrient regulation.

The nervous and endocrine systems coordinately monitor and regulate nutrient availability to maintain energy homeostasis. Sensory detection of food regulates internal nutrient availability in a manner that anticipates food intake, but sensory pathways that promote anticipatory physiological changes remain unclear. Here, we identify serotonergic (5-HT) neurons as critical mediators that transform gustatory detection by sensory neurons into the activation of insulin-producing cells and enteric neurons in Drosophila. One class of 5-HT neurons responds to gustatory detection of sugars, excites insulin-producing cells, and limits consumption, suggesting that they anticipate increased nutrient levels and prevent overconsumption. A second class of 5-HT neurons responds to gustatory detection of bitter compounds and activates enteric neurons to promote gastric motility, likely to stimulate digestion and increase circulating nutrients upon food rejection. These studies demonstrate that 5-HT neurons relay acute gustatory detection to divergent pathways for longer-term stabilization of circulating nutrients.

Glucose-Sensing Neurons Reciprocally Regulate Insulin and Glucagon.

A recent paper by Oh et al. identified a single pair of neurons in the fruit fly brain that directly senses 'blood' glucose levels and reciprocally regulates the secretion of insulin and glucagon. This study provides insight into how the brain regulates the circulation and storage of glucose.

The Drosophila Clock Neuron Network Features Diverse Coupling Modes and Requires Network-wide Coherence for Robust Circadian Rhythms.

In animals, networks of clock neurons containing molecular clocks orchestrate daily rhythms in physiology and behavior. However, how various types of clock neurons communicate and coordinate with one another to produce coherent circadian rhythms is not well understood. Here, we investigate clock neuron coupling in the brain of Drosophila and demonstrate that the fly's various groups of clock neurons display unique and complex coupling relationships to core pacemaker neurons. Furthermore, we find that coordinated free-running rhythms require molecular clock synchrony not only within the well-characterized lateral clock neuron classes but also between lateral clock neurons and dorsal clock neurons. These results uncover unexpected patterns of coupling in the clock neuron network and reveal that robust free-running behavioral rhythms require a coherence of molecular oscillations across most of the fly's clock neuron network.

A Neural Network Underlying Circadian Entrainment and Photoperiodic Adjustment of Sleep and Activity in Drosophila.

UNLABELLED: A sensitivity of the circadian clock to light/dark cycles ensures that biological rhythms maintain optimal phase relationships with the external day. In animals, the circadian clock neuron network (CCNN) driving sleep/activity rhythms receives light input from multiple photoreceptors, but how these photoreceptors modulate CCNN components is not well understood. Here we show that the Hofbauer-Buchner eyelets differentially modulate two classes of ventral lateral neurons (LNvs) within the Drosophila CCNN. The eyelets antagonize Cryptochrome (CRY)- and compound-eye-based photoreception in the large LNvs while synergizing CRY-mediated photoreception in the small LNvs. Furthermore, we show that the large LNvs interact with subsets of "evening cells" to adjust the timing of the evening peak of activity in a day length-dependent manner. Our work identifies a peptidergic connection between the large LNvs and a group of evening cells that is critical for the seasonal adjustment of circadian rhythms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: In animals, circadian clocks have evolved to orchestrate the timing of behavior and metabolism. Consistent timing requires the entrainment these clocks to the solar day, a process that is critical for an organism's health. Light cycles are the most important external cue for the entrainment of circadian clocks, and the circadian system uses multiple photoreceptors to link timekeeping to the light/dark cycle. How light information from these photorecptors is integrated into the circadian clock neuron network to support entrainment is not understood. Our results establish that input from the HB eyelets differentially impacts the physiology of neuronal subgroups. This input pathway, together with input from the compound eyes, precisely times the activity of flies under long summer days. Our results provide a mechanistic model of light transduction and integration into the circadian system, identifying new and unexpected network motifs within the circadian clock neuron network.

Pigment-Dispersing Factor Signaling and Circadian Rhythms in Insect Locomotor Activity.

Though expressed in relatively few neurons in insect nervous systems, pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) plays many roles in the control of behavior and physiology. PDF's role in circadian timekeeping is its best-understood function and the focus of this review. Here we recount the isolation and characterization of insect PDFs, review the evidence that PDF acts as a circadian clock output factor, and discuss emerging models of how PDF functions within circadian clock neuron network of Drosophila, the species in which this peptide's circadian roles are best understood.

Analysis of functional neuronal connectivity in the Drosophila brain.

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model system for the neural basis of complex behavior, but an inability to routinely interrogate physiologic connections within central neural networks of the fly brain remains a fundamental barrier to progress in the field. To address this problem, we have introduced a simple method of measuring functional connectivity based on the independent expression of the mammalian P2X2 purinoreceptor and genetically encoded Ca(2+) and cAMP sensors within separate genetically defined subsets of neurons in the adult brain. We show that such independent expression is capable of specifically rendering defined sets of neurons excitable by pulses of bath-applied ATP in a manner compatible with high-resolution Ca(2+) and cAMP imaging in putative follower neurons. Furthermore, we establish that this approach is sufficiently sensitive for the detection of excitatory and modulatory connections deep within larval and adult brains. This technically facile approach can now be used in wild-type and mutant genetic backgrounds to address functional connectivity within neuronal networks governing a wide range of complex behaviors in the fly. Furthermore, the effectiveness of this approach in the fly brain suggests that similar methods using appropriate heterologous receptors might be adopted for other widely used model systems.

Lipid storage disorders block lysosomal trafficking by inhibiting a TRP channel and lysosomal calcium release.

Lysosomal lipid accumulation, defects in membrane trafficking and altered Ca(2+) homoeostasis are common features in many lysosomal storage diseases. Mucolipin transient receptor potential channel 1 (TRPML1) is the principle Ca(2+) channel in the lysosome. Here we show that TRPML1-mediated lysosomal Ca(2+) release, measured using a genetically encoded Ca(2+) indicator (GCaMP3) attached directly to TRPML1 and elicited by a potent membrane-permeable synthetic agonist, is dramatically reduced in Niemann-Pick (NP) disease cells. Sphingomyelins (SMs) are plasma membrane lipids that undergo sphingomyelinase (SMase)-mediated hydrolysis in the lysosomes of normal cells, but accumulate distinctively in lysosomes of NP cells. Patch-clamp analyses revealed that TRPML1 channel activity is inhibited by SMs, but potentiated by SMases. In NP-type C cells, increasing TRPML1's expression or activity was sufficient to correct the trafficking defects and reduce lysosome storage and cholesterol accumulation. We propose that abnormal accumulation of luminal lipids causes secondary lysosome storage by blocking TRPML1- and Ca(2+)-dependent lysosomal trafficking.