Dataset Information

Synaptic calcium-channel function in Drosophila: analysis and transformation rescue of temperature-sensitive paralytic and lethal mutations of cacophony.

ABSTRACT: Voltage-gated calcium channels play a key role in chemical synaptic transmission by providing the calcium trigger for regulated neurotransmitter release. Genes encoding the primary structural subunit, alpha1, as well as accessory subunits of presynaptic calcium channels have now been identified in a variety of organisms. The cacophony (cac) gene in Drosophila, also known as nightblind A, encodes a voltage-gated calcium-channel alpha1 subunit homologous to vertebrate alpha1 subunits implicated in neurotransmitter release. A recent genetic screen in our laboratory isolated cac(TS2), a conditional cac mutant exhibiting rapid paralysis at elevated temperatures. This mutant has allowed synaptic electrophysiology after acute perturbation of a specific calcium-channel gene product, demonstrating that cac encodes a primary calcium channel functioning in neurotransmitter release. Here we report the molecular lesion in cac(TS2), a missense mutation within a calcium-dependent regulatory domain of the alpha1 subunit, as well as phenotypic rescue of temperature-sensitive and lethal cac mutations by transgenic expression of a wild-type cac cDNA. Notably, rescue of rapid, calcium-triggered neurotransmitter release was achieved by neural expression of a single cDNA containing a subset of alternative exons and lacking any conserved synaptic-protein interaction sequence. Possible implications of these findings are discussed in the context of structure-function studies of synaptic calcium channels, as well as alternative splicing and mRNA editing of the cac transcript.

SUBMITTER: Kawasaki F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6757926 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Synaptic calcium-channel function in Drosophila: analysis and transformation rescue of temperature-sensitive paralytic and lethal mutations of cacophony.

Kawasaki Fumiko F Collins Stephen C SC Ordway Richard W RW

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 20020701 14

Voltage-gated calcium channels play a key role in chemical synaptic transmission by providing the calcium trigger for regulated neurotransmitter release. Genes encoding the primary structural subunit, alpha1, as well as accessory subunits of presynaptic calcium channels have now been identified in a variety of organisms. The cacophony (cac) gene in Drosophila, also known as nightblind A, encodes a voltage-gated calcium-channel alpha1 subunit homologous to vertebrate alpha1 subunits implicated in ...[more]

PMID: 12122048

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Project description:BackgroundThe Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, is a significant agricultural pest managed through area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) including a sterile insect technique (SIT) component. Male-only releases increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of SIT programs, which can be achieved through the development of genetic sexing strains (GSS). The most successful GSS developed to date is the C. capitata VIENNA 8 GSS, constructed using classical genetic approaches and an irradiation-induced translocation with two selectable markers: the white pupae (wp) and temperature-sensitive lethal (tsl) genes. However, currently used methods for selecting suitable markers and inducing translocations are stochastic and non-specific, resulting in a laborious and time-consuming process. Recent efforts have focused on identifying the gene(s) and the causal mutation(s) for suitable phenotypes, such as wp and tsl, which could be used as selectable markers for developing a generic approach for constructing GSS. The wp gene was recently identified, and efforts have been initiated to identify the tsl gene. This study investigates Ceratitis capitata deep orange (Ccdor) as a tsl candidate gene and its potential to induce tsl phenotypes.ResultsAn integrated approach based on cytogenetics, genomics, bioinformatics, and gene editing was used to characterize the Ccdor. Its location was confirmed on the right arm of chromosome 5 in the putative tsl genomic region. Knock-out of Ccdor using CRISPR/Cas9-NHEJ and targeting the fourth exon resulted in lethality at mid- and late-pupal stage, while the successful application of CRISPR HDR introducing a point mutation on the sixth exon resulted in the establishment of the desired strain and two additional strains (dor 12del and dor 51dup), all of them expressing tsl phenotypes and presenting no (or minimal) fitness cost when reared at 25 °C. One of the strains exhibited complete lethality when embryos were exposed at 36 °C.ConclusionsGene editing of the deep orange gene in Ceratitis capitata resulted in the establishment of temperature-sensitive lethal mutant strains. The induced mutations did not significantly affect the rearing efficiency of the strains. As deep orange is a highly conserved gene, these data suggest that it can be considered a target for the development of tsl mutations which could potentially be used to develop novel genetic sexing strains in insect pests and disease vectors.

Dataset Information

Synaptic calcium-channel function in Drosophila: analysis and transformation rescue of temperature-sensitive paralytic and lethal mutations of cacophony.

Publications

Synaptic calcium-channel function in Drosophila: analysis and transformation rescue of temperature-sensitive paralytic and lethal mutations of cacophony.

Similar Datasets

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