Reference Report

Reference
Citation	Zhu, B., Pennack, J.A., McQuilton, P., Forero, M.G., Mizuguchi, K., Sutcliffe, B., Gu, C.J., Fenton, J.C., Hidalgo, A. (2008). Drosophila neurotrophins reveal a common mechanism for nervous system formation. PLoS Biol. 6(11): e284. (Export to RIS)
FlyBase ID	FBrf0206302
Publication Type	Research paper
PubMed ID	19018662
PubMed Abstract	Neurotrophic interactions occur in Drosophila, but to date, no neurotrophic factor had been found. Neurotrophins are the main vertebrate secreted signalling molecules that link nervous system structure and function: they regulate neuronal survival, targeting, synaptic plasticity, memory and cognition. We have identified a neurotrophic factor in flies, Drosophila Neurotrophin (DNT1), structurally related to all known neurotrophins and highly conserved in insects. By investigating with genetics the consequences of removing DNT1 or adding it in excess, we show that DNT1 maintains neuronal survival, as more neurons die in DNT1 mutants and expression of DNT1 rescues naturally occurring cell death, and it enables targeting by motor neurons. We show that Spätzle and a further fly neurotrophin superfamily member, DNT2, also have neurotrophic functions in flies. Our findings imply that most likely a neurotrophin was present in the common ancestor of all bilateral organisms, giving rise to invertebrate and vertebrate neurotrophins through gene or whole-genome duplications. This work provides a missing link between aspects of neuronal function in flies and vertebrates, and it opens the opportunity to use Drosophila to investigate further aspects of neurotrophin function and to model related diseases.
DOI	10.1371/journal.pbio.0060284
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Language of Publication	English
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Publication Type	Journal
Abbreviation	PLoS Biol.
Title	PLoS Biology
Publication Year	2003-
ISBN/ISSN	1545-7885 1544-9173
Data from Reference
Aberrations (3)
	Df(3L)ED4342 Df(3L)Exel6092 Df(3R)ro80b
Alleles (21)
	NT1⁴¹ NT1⁵⁵ NT1^{Cterm.Scer\UAS} NT1^{Cysknot.Scer\UAS} NT1^{dsRNA.CK.Scer\UAS} NT1^{dsRNA.pro.Scer\UAS} NT1^{dsRNA.pwCK.Scer\UAS} NT1^{fl.Scer\UAS.T:Avic\GFP-EGFP} NT1^Pro.Scer\UAS NT1^{w.Scer\SceI.RS} Scer\GAL4^elav-C155 Scer\GAL4^how-24B Scer\GAL4^NP6099 Scer\GAL4^sim.PS spz5^Cys.Scer\UAS spz5^e03444 spz² spz^act.Scer\UAS T:Avic\GFP^EGFP Tl^10b.Scer\UAS Tl^r3
Constructs (12)
	P{FRT(w⁺.NT1^{w.Scer\SceI.RS})} P{GAL4-sim.S} P{UAS-CysNT1.RNAi} P{UAS-NT1.cDNA1} P{UAS-NT1.Cterm} P{UAS-NT1.Cysknot} P{UAS-NT1.fl} P{UAS-proNT1.RNAi} P{UAS-pwCysNT1.RNAi} P{UAS-spz5.Cys} P{UAS-spz.act} P{UAS-Tl.10b}
Genes (23)
	Dana\NT1 decay Dere\NT1 Dgri\NT1 Dmoj\NT1 Dper\NT1 Dpse\NT1 Dsec\NT1 Dsim\NT1 Dvir\NT1 Dwil\NT1 Dyak\NT1 eve exex Fas2 NT1 Scer\GAL4 spz spz3 spz4 spz5 spz6 Tl
Insertions (3)
	P{GawB}elav^C155 P{GawB}how^24B P{GawB}NP6099
Natural transposons (1)
	P-element