Abstract
The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster represents a key model organism for analyzing how neuronal circuits regulate behavior. The mushroom body in the central brain is a particularly prominent brain region that has been intensely studied in several insect species and been implicated in a variety of behaviors, e.g., associative learning, locomotor activity, and sleep. Drosophila melanogaster offers the advantage that transgenes can be easily expressed in neuronal subpopulations, e.g., in intrinsic mushroom body neurons (Kenyon cells). A number of transgenes has been described and engineered to visualize the anatomy of neurons, to monitor physiological parameters of neuronal activity, and to manipulate neuronal function artificially. To target the expression of these transgenes selectively to specific neurons several sophisticated bi- or even multipartite transcription systems have been invented. However, the number of transgenes that can be combined in the genome of an individual fly is limited in practice. To facilitate the analysis of the mushroom body we provide a compilation of transgenic fruit flies that express transgenes under direct control of the Kenyon-cell specific promoter, mb247. The transgenes expressed are fluorescence reporters to analyze neuroanatomical aspects of the mushroom body, proteins to restrict ectopic gene expression to mushroom bodies, or fluorescent sensors to monitor physiological parameters of neuronal activity of Kenyon cells. Some of the transgenic animals compiled here have been published already, whereas others are novel and characterized here for the first time. Overall, the collection of transgenic flies expressing sensor and reporter genes in Kenyon cells facilitates combinations with binary transcription systems and might, ultimately, advance the physiological analysis of mushroom body function.
Highlights
The mushroom body of the arthropod brain is a prominent brain structure that has attracted the attention of neuroscientists for more than 160 years (Dujardin, 1850; Kenyon, 1896; Strausfeld et al, 1998; Fahrbach, 2006; Strausfeld et al, 2009; Pech et al, 2013)
To facilitate the analysis of the mushroom body we provide a compilation of transgenic fruit flies that express transgenes under direct control of the Kenyon-cell specific promoter, mb247
The mushroom body of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster consists of ∼ 2000–2500 intrinsic neurons per hemisphere called Kenyon cells (Technau, 1984; Aso et al, 2009)
Summary
The mushroom body of the arthropod brain is a prominent brain structure that has attracted the attention of neuroscientists for more than 160 years (Dujardin, 1850; Kenyon, 1896; Strausfeld et al, 1998; Fahrbach, 2006; Strausfeld et al, 2009; Pech et al, 2013). The mushroom body of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster consists of ∼ 2000–2500 intrinsic neurons per hemisphere called Kenyon cells (Technau, 1984; Aso et al, 2009). Kenyon cells extend their dendrites at the calyx, the main sensory input region of the mushroom body. A third group of Kenyon cells does not divide their axons and form the γ-lobes that are positioned anterior to the β/β -lobes.
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