TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mena, Wilson
A1  - Diegelmann, Sören
A1  - Wegener, Christian
A1  - Ewer, John
T1  - Stereotyped responses of Drosophila peptidergic neuronal ensemble depend on downstream neuromodulators
JF  - eLife
N2  - Neuropeptides play a key role in the regulation of behaviors and physiological responses including alertness, social recognition, and hunger, yet, their mechanism of action is poorly understood. Here, we focus on the endocrine control ecdysis behavior, which is used by arthropods to shed their cuticle at the end of every molt. Ecdysis is triggered by ETH (Ecdysis triggering hormone), and we show that the response of peptidergic neurons that produce CCAP (crustacean cardioactive peptide), which are key targets of ETH and control the onset of ecdysis behavior, depends fundamentally on the actions of neuropeptides produced by other direct targets of ETH and released in a broad paracrine manner within the CNS; by autocrine influences from the CCAP neurons themselves; and by inhibitory actions mediated by GABA. Our findings provide insights into how this critical insect behavior is controlled and general principles for understanding how neuropeptides organize neuronal activity and behaviors.
KW  - neuropeptides
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165003
VL  - 5
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Selcho, Mareike
A1  - Millán, Carola
A1  - Palacios-Muñoz, Angelina
A1  - Ruf, Franziska
A1  - Ubillo, Lilian
A1  - Chen, Jiangtian
A1  - Bergmann, Gregor
A1  - Ito, Chihiro
A1  - Silva, Valeria
A1  - Wegener, Christian
A1  - Ewer, John
T1  - Central and peripheral clocks are coupled by a neuropeptide pathway in Drosophila
JF  - Nature Communications
N2  - Animal circadian clocks consist of central and peripheral pacemakers, which are coordinated to produce daily rhythms in physiology and behaviour. Despite its importance for optimal performance and health, the mechanism of clock coordination is poorly understood. Here we dissect the pathway through which the circadian clock of Drosophila imposes daily rhythmicity to the pattern of adult emergence. Rhythmicity depends on the coupling between the brain clock and a peripheral clock in the prothoracic gland (PG), which produces the steroid hormone, ecdysone. Time information from the central clock is transmitted via the neuropeptide, sNPF, to non-clock neurons that produce the neuropeptide, PTTH. These secretory neurons then forward time information to the PG clock. We also show that the central clock exerts a dominant role on the peripheral clock. This use of two coupled clocks could serve as a paradigm to understand how daily steroid hormone rhythms are generated in animals.
KW  - circadian clock
KW  - Drosophila
KW  - neuropeptide pathway
KW  - peripheral clocks
KW  - central clocks
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-170831
VL  - 8
IS  - 15563
ER  -