Xiao Chengfeng, Qiu Shuang
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Genes Brain Behav. 2021 Feb;20(2):e12703. doi: 10.1111/gbb.12703. Epub 2020 Oct 15.
The classic eye-color gene white (w) in Drosophila melanogaster (fruitfly) has unexpected behavioral consequences. How w affects locomotion of adult flies is largely unknown. Here, we show that a mutant allele (w ) selectively increases locomotor components at relatively high frequencies (> 0.1 Hz). The w flies had reduced transcripts of w from the 5' end of the gene. Male flies of w walked continuously in circular arenas while the wildtype Canton-S walked intermittently. Through careful control of genetic and cytoplasmic backgrounds, we found that the w locus was associated with continuous walking. w -carrying male flies showed increased median values of path length per second (PPS) and 5-min path length compared with w -carrying males. Additionally, flies carrying 2-4 genomic copies of mini-white (mw ) in the w background showed suppressed median PPSs and decreased 5-min path length compared with controls, and the suppression was dependent on the copy number of mw . Analysis of the time-series (i.e., PPSs over time) by Fourier transform indicated that w was associated with increased locomotor components at relatively high frequencies (> 0.1 Hz). The addition of multiple genomic copies of mw (2-4 copies) suppressed the high-frequency components. Lastly, the downregulation of w in neurons but not glial cells resulted in increased high-frequency components. We concluded that mutation of w modified the locomotion in adult flies by selectively increasing high-frequency locomotor components.
果蝇中的经典眼色基因白色（w）具有意想不到的行为后果。w如何影响成年果蝇的运动在很大程度上尚不清楚。在此，我们表明一个突变等位基因（w）在相对较高频率（>0.1赫兹）下选择性增加运动成分。w突变果蝇从该基因的5'端开始w转录本减少。w突变雄蝇在圆形场地中持续行走，而野生型Canton-S雄蝇则间歇性行走。通过仔细控制遗传和细胞质背景，我们发现w基因座与持续行走有关。携带w的雄蝇与携带w的雄蝇相比，每秒路径长度（PPS）的中位数和5分钟路径长度增加。此外，在w背景下携带2 - 4个迷你白色（mw）基因组拷贝的果蝇与对照相比，PPS中位数受到抑制，5分钟路径长度减少，并且这种抑制取决于mw的拷贝数。通过傅里叶变换对时间序列（即随时间变化的PPS）进行分析表明，w与相对较高频率（>0.1赫兹）下运动成分增加有关。添加多个mw基因组拷贝（2 - 4个拷贝）可抑制高频成分。最后，在神经元而非神经胶质细胞中下调w会导致高频成分增加。我们得出结论，w的突变通过选择性增加高频运动成分改变了成年果蝇的运动。
