Abstract
Animals have sophisticated homeostatic controls. While mammalian body temperature fluctuates throughout the day, small ectotherms, such as Drosophila achieve a body temperature rhythm (BTR) through their preference of environmental temperature. Here, we demonstrate that pigment dispersing factor (PDF) neurons play an important role in setting preferred temperature before dawn. We show that small lateral ventral neurons (sLNvs), a subset of PDF neurons, activate the dorsal neurons 2 (DN2s), the main circadian clock cells that regulate temperature preference rhythm (TPR). The number of temporal contacts between sLNvs and DN2s peak before dawn. Our data suggest that the thermosensory anterior cells (ACs) likely contact sLNvs via serotonin signaling. Together, the ACs-sLNs-DN2s neural circuit regulates the proper setting of temperature preference before dawn. Given that sLNvs are important for sleep and that BTR and sleep have a close temporal relationship, our data highlight a possible neuronal interaction between body temperature and sleep regulation.
Highlights
In humans, the phenomenon by which body temperature fluctuates by about one degree over a span of 24 hr is called body temperature rhythm (BTR)
We found that inactivated pigment dispersing factor (PDF) neurons caused a lower temperature preference than both Gal4/+ and UAS/+ controls at ZT19-21 and ZT22-24 (Figure 1A and Supplementary file 1)
UAS-Kir2.1/+ control flies preferred a lower temperature compared to Pdf-Gal4/+ controls (Supplementary files 1 and 2), the inactivation of PDF neurons caused a further significant decrease of the preferred temperature at ZT19-24 (Figure 1A green and blue stars, Supplementary file 1)
Summary
The phenomenon by which body temperature fluctuates by about one degree over a span of 24 hr is called body temperature rhythm (BTR). This body temperature rhythm is related to sleep. When body temperature decreases at the transition from day to night, sleep latency increases (Refinetti and Menaker, 1992; Aschoff, 1983; Krauchi, 2002; Weinert, 2010; Gerhart-Hines et al, 2013; Krauchi, 2007a, 2007b; Gilbert et al, 2004). About the underlying relationships between sleep and body temperature in terms of neural regulation. We have previously shown that Drosophila exhibit a daily temperature preference rhythm (TPR), in which their preferred temperatures increase during the daytime and decrease at the
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