Sensory neuron-derived eph regulates glomerular arbors and modulatory function of a central serotonergic neuron.

• Main Authors: Ajeet Pratap Singh, Rudra Nayan Das, Gururaj Rao, Aman Aggarwal, Soeren Diegelmann, Jan Felix Evers, Hrishikesh Karandikar, Matthias Landgraf, Veronica Rodrigues, K Vijayraghavan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-04-01
• Series: PLoS Genetics
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3630106?pdf=render
• ISSN: 1553-7390; 1553-7404

Olfactory sensory neurons connect to the antennal lobe of the fly to create the primary units for processing odor cues, the glomeruli. Unique amongst antennal-lobe neurons is an identified wide-field serotonergic neuron, the contralaterally-projecting, serotonin-immunoreactive deutocerebral neuron (CSDn). The CSDn spreads its termini all over the contralateral antennal lobe, suggesting a diffuse neuromodulatory role. A closer examination, however, reveals a restricted pattern of the CSDn arborization in some glomeruli. We show that sensory neuron-derived Eph interacts with Ephrin in the CSDn, to regulate these arborizations. Behavioural analysis of animals with altered Eph-ephrin signaling and with consequent arborization defects suggests that neuromodulation requires local glomerular-specific patterning of the CSDn termini. Our results show the importance of developmental regulation of terminal arborization of even the diffuse modulatory neurons to allow them to route sensory-inputs according to the behavioural contexts.