An Allele of Sequoia Dominantly Enhances a Trio Mutant Phenotype to Influence Drosophila Larval Behavior

作者：Dean Kathryn E; Fields April; Geer Marcus J; King Eric C; Lynch Brian T; Manohar Rohan R; McCall Julianne R; Palozola Katherine C; Zhang Yan; Liebl Eric C^*

来源：PLos One, 2013, 8(12): e84149.

DOI：10.1371/journal.pone.0084149

The transition of Drosophila third instar larvae from feeding, photo-phobic foragers to non-feeding photo-neutral wanderers is a classic behavioral switch that precedes pupariation. The neuronal network responsible for this behavior has recently begun to be defined. Previous genetic analyses have identified signaling components for food and light sensory inputs and neuropeptide hormonal outputs as being critical for the forager to wanderer transition. Trio is a Rho-Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor integrated into a variety of signaling networks including those governing axon pathfinding in early development. Sequoia is a pan-neuronally expressed zinc-finger transcription factor that governs dendrite and axon outgrowth. Using pre-pupal lethality as an endpoint, we have screened for dominant second-site enhancers of a weakly lethal trio mutant background. In these screens, an allele of sequoia has been identified. While these mutants have no obvious disruption of embryonic central nervous system architecture and survive to third in star larvae similar to controls, they retain forager behavior and thus fail to pupariate at high frequency.

• 出版日期2013-12-20