IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v5y2014i1d10.1038_ncomms6778.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Serotonergic neurons respond to nutrients and regulate the timing of steroid hormone biosynthesis in Drosophila

Author

Listed:
  • Yuko Shimada-Niwa

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba)

  • Ryusuke Niwa

    (Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba
    PRESTO, JST)

Abstract

The temporal transition of development is flexibly coordinated in the context of the nutrient environment, and this coordination is essential for organisms to increase their survival fitness and reproductive success. Steroid hormone, a key player of the juvenile-to-adult transition, is biosynthesized in a nutrient-dependent manner; however, the underlying genetic mechanism remains unclear. Here we report that the biosynthesis of insect steroid hormone, ecdysteroid, is regulated by a subset of serotonergic neurons in Drosophila melanogaster. These neurons directly innervate the prothoracic gland (PG), an ecdysteroid-producing organ and share tracts with the stomatogastric nervous system. Interestingly, the projecting neurites morphologically respond to nutrient conditions. Moreover, reduced activity of the PG-innervating neurons or of serotonin signalling in the PG strongly correlates with a delayed developmental transition. Our results suggest that serotonergic neurons form a link between the external environment and the internal endocrine system by adaptively tuning the timing of steroid hormone biosynthesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuko Shimada-Niwa & Ryusuke Niwa, 2014. "Serotonergic neurons respond to nutrients and regulate the timing of steroid hormone biosynthesis in Drosophila," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6778
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6778
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6778
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms6778?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6778. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.