The Role of Glial Peroxisome in Neuron-Glia Communication in Drosophila
Authors: Maggie Sodders; Hua Bai
Affiliation: Iowa State University
Keywords: f. neuromuscular junction; n. peroxisomomes
Peroxisome function in glial cells has been shown to impact neuronal functions. In the present study, we aim to elucidate the mechanism behind peroxisome-mediated glia-neuron communication using Drosophila as a model organism. I used the GAL4/UAS system to drive RNAi knockdown or overexpression in either glia tissue or motor neurons. The morphology of adult abdominal neuromuscular junction (NMJ) was visualized using confocal microscopy and the axonal volume was quantified via ImageJ. Glial-specific knockdown of peroxisome import protein, Pex5, results in swollen axon as compared to the control. Consistent with our previous work showing that defective peroxisomes upregulate inflammatory cytokine upd3 and JAK-STAT signaling, overexpression of upd3 in glia phenocopies glial-specific knockdown of Pex5 and increases axonal volume and area. We further show that neuronal-specific activation of the JAK-STAT pathway through hop overexpression results in an increase in axon size. Taken together, our findings suggest that impairment of peroxisomes in the glial impacts axonal morphology and potentially functions via inflammatory response, specifically the JAK-STAT pathway.