McNabb S L, Baker J D, Agapite J, Steller H, Riddiford L M, Truman J W
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195-1800, USA.
Neuron. 1997 Oct;19(4):813-23. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80963-0.
The neuropeptide eclosion hormone (EH) is a key regulator of insect ecdysis. We tested the role of the two EH-producing neurons in Drosophila by using an EH cell-specific enhancer to activate cell death genes reaper and head involution defective to ablate the EH cells. In the EH cell knockout flies, larval and adult ecdyses were disrupted, yet a third of the knockouts emerged as adults, demonstrating that EH has a significant but nonessential role in ecdysis. The EH cell knockouts had discrete behavioral deficits, including slow, uncoordinated eclosion and an insensitivity to ecdysis-triggering hormone. The knockouts lacked the lights-on eclosion response despite having a normal circadian eclosion rhythm. This study represents a novel approach to the dissection of neuropeptide regulation of a complex behavioral program.
神经肽羽化激素(EH)是昆虫蜕皮的关键调节因子。我们通过使用EH细胞特异性增强子激活细胞死亡基因收割者(reaper)和头部内卷缺陷(head involution defective)来消融EH细胞,从而测试了果蝇中两个产生EH的神经元的作用。在EH细胞敲除果蝇中,幼虫和成虫的蜕皮受到干扰,但仍有三分之一的敲除果蝇羽化成为成虫,这表明EH在蜕皮过程中具有重要但非必需的作用。EH细胞敲除果蝇有明显的行为缺陷,包括缓慢、不协调的羽化以及对蜕皮触发激素不敏感。尽管具有正常的昼夜节律羽化节奏,但敲除果蝇缺乏光照诱导的羽化反应。这项研究代表了一种剖析神经肽对复杂行为程序调节作用的新方法。