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Morphology and metamorphosis of the peptidergic Va neurons and the median nerve system of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract

Metamorphosis is a fundamental developmental process and has been intensively studied for various neuron types of Drosophila melanogaster. However, detailed accounts of the fate of identified peptidergic neurons are rare. We have performed a detailed study of the larval morphology and pupal remodelling of identified peptidergic neurons, the CAPA-expressing Va neurons of D. melanogaster. In the larva, Va neurons innervate abdominal median and transverse nerves that are typically associated with perisympathetic organs (PSOs), major neurohaemal release sites in insects. Since median and transverse nerves are lacking in the adult, Va neurites have to undergo substantial remodelling during metamorphosis. We have examined the hitherto uncharacterised gross morphology of the thoracic PSOs and the abdominal median and transverse nerves by scanning electron microscopy and found that the complete reduction of these structures during metamorphosis starts around pupal stage P7 and is completed at P9. Concomitantly, neurite pruning of the Va neurons begins at P6 and is preceded by the high expression of the ecdysone receptor (EcR) subtype B1 in late L3 larvae and the first pupal stages. New neuritic outgrowth mainly occurs from P7-P9 and coincides with the expression of EcR-A, indicating that the remodelling of the Va neurons is under ecdysteroid control. Immunogold-labelling has located the CAPA peptides to large translucent vesicles, which are released from the transverse nerves, as suggested by fusion profiles. Hence, the transverse nerves may serve a neurohaemal function in D. melanogaster.

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Acknowledgements

We express our thanks to Stefan Thor, Stéphane Noselli, Paul Taghert and the Bloomington Stock Center for the kind gift of flies, to Manfred Eckert and the DSHB for the kind gift of antibodies, to Petra Touzani for excellent technical help with the preparations for SEM, to Reinhard Predel, Heinrich Dircksen and Joachim Schachtner for useful suggestions, to Ruth Hyland and Renate Renkawitz-Pohl for providing fly housing, to Ian Orchard for hints regarding the older literature, to Wolf Huetteroth for expert advise with Amira, to Matthias Vömel for contributing to the layout of the Fas2 scheme, and to Uwe Homberg for general support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emmy Noether Neuropeptide Group, Department of Biology, Animal Physiology, Philipps University, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse, 35032, Marburg, Germany

    Jonathan G. Santos & Christian Wegener

  2. Department of General Zoology, University of Pécs, H-7624, Pécs, Hungary

    Edit Pollák & László Molnár

  3. Department of Biology, Mycology, Philipps University, 35032, Marburg, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Rexer

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  1. Jonathan G. Santos
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  2. Edit Pollák
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  3. Karl-Heinz Rexer
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  4. László Molnár
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  5. Christian Wegener
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Correspondence to Christian Wegener.

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This work was supported by the German Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), grant We 2652/2-1.

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Santos, J.G., Pollák, E., Rexer, KH. et al. Morphology and metamorphosis of the peptidergic Va neurons and the median nerve system of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster . Cell Tissue Res 326, 187–199 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-006-0211-7

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