108 Oral - Neurodevelopment II/Neurobehavior II
Friday April 08, 5:30 PM - 5:45 PM

Authors:
Matthew R. Meiselman ¹; Michael H. Alpert ²; Xinyue Cui ¹; Jamien Shea ¹; Ian Gregg ¹; Marco Gallio ²; Nilay Yapici ¹

Affiliations:
1) Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA; 2) Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

Keywords:
b. neuropeptides; k. circadian rhythms and sleep

Many species have evolved a variety of behaviors to cope with adverse environmental conditions. Similar to many insects, Drosophila melanogaster responds to sustained cold temperatures by reducing locomotion, metabolic rate, and arresting reproduction. Here, we show that a subset of dorsal neurons (DN3s) that express the neuropeptide Allatostatin-C (AstC) in the fly brain facilitates recovery from cold-induced reproductive dormancy. Activity of AstC-expressing DN3s is modulated by temperature and AstC peptide levels are suppressed at cold temperatures in Drosophila and in vector mosquitoes. The stimulatory effect of AstC on egg production during and after cold-induced dormancy is meditated by AstC-R2-expressing CCHA2 neurons, whose activation is sufficient to induce reproductive dormancy in warm temperatures. Our results demonstrate that DN3s coordinate female reproductive capacity with environmental temperature via AstC signaling. AstC/AstC-R2 is conserved across many insect species and their role in regulating female reproductive capacity makes them an ideal target for controlling the population of agricultural pests and human disease vectors.