Abstract
BackgroundThe skills used by winged insects to explore their environment are strongly dependent upon the integration of neurosensory information comprising visual, acoustic and olfactory signals. The neuronal architecture of the wing contains a vast array of different sensors which might convey information to the brain in order to guide the trajectories during flight. In Drosophila, the wing sensory cells are either chemoreceptors or mechanoreceptors and some of these sensors have as yet unknown functions. The axons of these two functionally distinct types of neurons are entangled, generating a single nerve. This simple and accessible coincidental signaling circuitry in Drosophila constitutes an excellent model system to investigate the developmental variability in relation to natural behavioral polymorphisms.Methodology/Principal FindingsA fluorescent marker was generated in neurons at all stages of the Drosophila life cycle using a highly efficient and controlled genetic recombination system that can be induced in dividing precursor cells (MARCM system, flybase web site). It allows fluorescent signals in axons only when the neuroblasts and/or neuronal cell precursors like SOP (sensory organ precursors) undergo division during the precedent steps. We first show that a robust neurogenesis continues in the wing after the adults emerge from the pupae followed by an extensive axonal growth. Arguments are presented to suggest that this wing neurogenesis in the newborn adult flies was influenced by genetic determinants such as the frequency dependent for gene and by environmental cues such as population density.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that the neuronal architecture in the adult Drosophila wing is unfinished when the flies emerge from their pupae. This unexpected developmental step might be crucial for generating non-heritable variants and phenotypic plasticity. This might therefore constitute an advantage in an unstable ecological system and explain much regarding the ability of Drosophila to robustly adapt to their environment.
Highlights
Drosophila survival depends on their capacity to exit a niche that has become unfavorable and/or hostile and find alternative locations where food resources are more abundant
We demonstrate that the neuronal architecture in the adult Drosophila wing is unfinished when the flies emerge from their pupae
This might constitute an advantage in an unstable ecological system and explain much regarding the ability of Drosophila to robustly adapt to their environment
Summary
Drosophila survival depends on their capacity to exit a niche that has become unfavorable and/or hostile and find alternative locations where food resources are more abundant The efficiency of this exploration depends upon the simultaneous integration of neurosensory signals that are used to guide flight trajectories [1,2]. Many lines of evidence using in situ hybridization methodologies have confirmed that a chemosensory gene family encodes both odorant and taste receptors [6] This suggests overlapping roles and functions between olfactory and gustatory organs in Drosophila or at least a diffuse physiological frontier between both systems. In Drosophila, the wing sensory cells are either chemoreceptors or mechanoreceptors and some of these sensors have as yet unknown functions The axons of these two functionally distinct types of neurons are entangled, generating a single nerve. This simple and accessible coincidental signaling circuitry in Drosophila constitutes an excellent model system to investigate the developmental variability in relation to natural behavioral polymorphisms
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