RRC ID 32436
Author Schoofs A, Hückesfeld S, Schlegel P, Miroschnikow A, Peters M, Zeymer M, Spieß R, Chiang AS, Pankratz MJ.
Title Selection of motor programs for suppressing food intake and inducing locomotion in the Drosophila brain.
Journal PLoS Biol
Abstract Central mechanisms by which specific motor programs are selected to achieve meaningful behaviors are not well understood. Using electrophysiological recordings from pharyngeal nerves upon central activation of neurotransmitter-expressing cells, we show that distinct neuronal ensembles can regulate different feeding motor programs. In behavioral and electrophysiological experiments, activation of 20 neurons in the brain expressing the neuropeptide hugin, a homolog of mammalian neuromedin U, simultaneously suppressed the motor program for food intake while inducing the motor program for locomotion. Decreasing hugin neuropeptide levels in the neurons by RNAi prevented this action. Reducing the level of hugin neuronal activity alone did not have any effect on feeding or locomotion motor programs. Furthermore, use of promoter-specific constructs that labeled subsets of hugin neurons demonstrated that initiation of locomotion can be separated from modulation of its motor pattern. These results provide insights into a neural mechanism of how opposing motor programs can be selected in order to coordinate feeding and locomotive behaviors.
Volume 12(6)
Pages e1001893
Published 2014-6-1
DOI 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001893
PII PBIOLOGY-D-14-00605
PMID 24960360
PMC PMC4068981
MeSH Animals Central Nervous System / physiology* Feeding Behavior / physiology* Locomotion / physiology*
IF 7.076
Times Cited 40
WOS Category BIOLOGY BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Resource
Drosophila DGRC#113901