Summary
We have studied the effect of formamidines onDrosophila melanogaster. Low concentrations of formamidines are toxic to adultDrosophila. A mutant with reduced cAMP synthesis displays increased resistance to the toxin. Formamidines also reduce viability ofDrosophila eggs and retard imago eclosion. At sublethal concentrations, formamidines markedly affect the flies' behavior. Upon injection, the compounds increase muscle activity. Upon feeding, formamidines induce motor excitation, reduce phototaxis and impair olfactory learning without affecting the ability to recognize an olfactory cue. In vitro, two formamidines were found to inhibit octopamine-stimulated adenylate cyclase without affecting the basal activity of the enzyme, while a third one was found to stimulate adenylate cyclase; this stimulation was blocked by phentolamine and to a lesser degree by propranolol, thus resembling the effect of octopamine. The binding of [3H]octopamine toDrosophila head membranes was also inhibited. Taken together, our results indicate that formamidines interact with octopaminergic systems inDrosophila, exert both peripheral and central effects in the fly, and could be used to dissect the roles of octopamine in development and behavior, including behavioral plasticity. The results also suggest that formamidines could be used to select mutants in aminergic transmission and in the cAMP cascade.
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Abbreviations
- CDMF :
-
chlordimeform
- DMPF :
-
N,N-dimethyl-N2-(2,4-dimethylphenyl) formamidine
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Dudai, Y., Buxbaum, J., Corfas, G. et al. Formamidines interact withDrosophila octopamine receptors, alter the flies' behavior and reduce their learning ability. J. Comp. Physiol. 161, 739–746 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605015
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00605015