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Electrical Hyperexcitation of Lateral Ventral Pacemaker Neurons Desynchronizes Downstream Circadian Oscillators in the Fly Circadian Circuit and Induces Multiple Behavioral Periods

2006; Society for Neuroscience; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1523/jneurosci.3915-05.2006

1529-2401

Michael N. Nitabach, Ying Wu, Vasu Sheeba, William C. Lemon, John G. Strumbos, Paul K. Zelensky, Benjamin H. White, Todd C. Holmes,

Light effects on plants

Coupling of autonomous cellular oscillators is an essential aspect of circadian clock function but little is known about its circuit requirements. Functional ablation of the pigment-dispersing factor-expressing lateral ventral subset (LN V ) of Drosophila clock neurons abolishes circadian rhythms of locomotor activity. The hypothesis that LN V s synchronize oscillations in downstream clock neurons was tested by rendering the LN V s hyperexcitable via transgenic expression of a low activation threshold voltage-gated sodium channel. When the LN V s are made hyperexcitable, free-running behavioral rhythms decompose into multiple independent superimposed oscillations and the clock protein oscillations in the dorsal neuron 1 and 2 subgroups of clock neurons are phase-shifted. Thus, regulated electrical activity of the LN V s synchronize multiple oscillators in the fly circadian pacemaker circuit.