95 Oral - Neurobehavior I
Friday April 08, 12:15 PM - 12:30 PM

Authors:
Nandashree Kasturacharya ^1,2; Gaiti Hasan ¹

Affiliations:
1) National Centre for Biological Science; 2) The University of Trans-Disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU)

Keywords:
a. neurotransmitters; c. nutrition

Feeding is a vital and complex behavior essential to acquire nutrition. In Drosophila melanogaster, a holometabolous insect, the extent and nutritional quality of food ingested as larvae determines the adult size and ultimately fecundity. Studies on Drosophila larval feeding behavior have shown that under different nutritional conditions, multiple neuronal circuits regulate and maintain feeding. But most of these studies focused on the later stage of larval feeding and less is known on how constant feeding is maintained in second instar larvae. Here we have identified a subset of dopaminergic (THD’) neurons that maintain constant feeding in early larvae. The function of STIM protein (an ER calcium sensor) in this subset of dopaminergic neurons is important to maintain their excitability and dopamine release. Increasing the activity in THD’-dopaminergic neurons through genetic means rescued the feeding deficit of STIM^KO larvae. Through optogenetic methods, we have established that THD’-dopaminergic neurons are synaptically connected to a subset of neuropeptidergic cells. Although dopaminergic neurons are known to regulate feeding behavior under different conditions, this is the first study showing how a subset of dopaminergic neurons regulate larval growth and pupariation by maintaining constant feeding.