Chronobiology
Author: Agustina Bruno Vignolo | email: agustinabrunovignolo@gmail.com
Agustina Bruno Vignolo 1°, Nara Inés Muraro 1°
1° IBioBA-CONICET-MPSP
The circadian oscillator of Drosophila is composed of approximately 150 clock neurons that express a set of molecular components, called clock genes, which through negative feedback loops coordinate the oscillation of gene expression and physiological parameters with a period close to 24 hours. A subgroup of clock neurons, called ventral lateral neurons (LNvs) is characterized by the expression of the neuropeptide Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF) and play a fundamental role in the control of alertness and are essential for the regulation of sleep/wake behavior via a yet not fully understood neuronal circuit. Previous work from our laboratory has identified ClC-a, a voltage-dependent chloride channel, as a potential key element in the physiology of the LNvs. This channel has not been explored in Drosophila adult neurons before. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to characterize the role of neuronal CIC-a and its mechanism of action. As an initial approach we have started to explore the ClC-a in determining behavioral outputs. Our findings indicate that downregulation of ClC-a in LNvs increases sleep, both in females and males. Surprisingly, downregulation of ClC-a in glial cells reduces sleep in males, but does not affect sleep in females. Consistently, downregulation of ClC-a in all cell types reduces latency to siesta sleep. Future work will explore how ClC-a affects LNvs physiology using patch-clamp electrophysiological approaches.