Chronobiology
Author: Agustina Bruno-Vignolo | Email: agustinabrunovignolo@gmail.com
Agustina Bruno-Vignolo1°, Nara I. Muraro1°
1° Instituto de Investigación en Biomedicina de Buenos Aires (IBioBA, CONICET – Partner of the Max Planck Society)
The circadian oscillator of Drosophila consists of approximately 150 clock neurons that express a set of molecular components, known as clock genes, which through negative feedback loops coordinate the oscillation of transcription and translation of specific genes and proteins. A subgroup of these clock neurons, called ventral lateral neurons (LNvs), is characterized by the expression of the neuropeptide Pigment Dispersing Factor (PDF). LNvs play a fundamental role in controlling alertness and are essential for regulating sleep/wake behavior via a neuronal circuit that is not yet fully understood. Previous work from our laboratory has identified ClC-a, a voltage-dependent chloride channel, as a potential key element in LNvs physiology. This channel has not been studied in adult Drosophila neurons before. The main goal of this project is to characterize the role of neuronal ClC-a and its mechanism of action. Our initial findings indicate that downregulation of ClC-a in LNvs increases sleep in both male and female flies and reduces latency to siesta sleep. Additional behavioral analyses suggest that ClC-a may be involved in detecting sensory stimuli such as light and mechanical stimuli. Based on these results, we performed electrophysiological recordings using the whole-cell patch clamp configuration. So far, our promising data indicate that ClC-a indeed affects the physiology of lLNvs, in agreement with our behavioral findings.