Adult-specific electrical silencing of pacemaker neurons uncouples the molecular oscillator from circadian outputs

ANA DEPETRIS-CHAUVIN; JIMENA BERNI; EZEQUIEL ARANOVICH; ANA I. MURARO; ESTEBAN J. BECKWITH; MARÍA FERNANDA CERIANI

CURRENT BIOLOGY

CELL PRESS

Año: 2011

0960-9822

Circadian rhythms regulate physiology and behavior through transcriptional feedback loops of clock genes running within specific pacemaker cells. In Drosophila, molecular oscillations in the small ventral Lateral Neurons (sLNvs) command rhythmic behavior under free-running conditions releasing the neuropeptide PIGMENT DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF) in a circadian fashion. Electrical activity in the sLNvs is also required for behavioral rhythmicity. Yet, how temporal information is transduced into behavior remains unclear. Here we developed a new tool for temporal control of gene expression to obtain adult-restricted electrical silencing of the PDF circuit, which led to reversible behavioral arrhythmicity. Remarkably, PER oscillations during the silenced phase remained unaltered, indicating that arrhythmicity is a direct consequence of the silenced activity. Accordingly, circadian axonal remodeling and PDF accumulation were severely affected during the silenced phase, demonstrating that although electrical activity of the sLNvs is not a clock component it coordinates circuit outputs leading to rhythmic behavior