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Interindividual differences in neuronal wiring may contribute to behavioral individuality and affect susceptibility to neurological disorders. To investigate the causes and potential consequences of wiring variation in Drosophila melanogaster, we focused on a hemilineage of ventral nerve cord interneurons that exhibits morphological variability. We find that late-born subclasses of the 12A hemilineage are highly sensitive to genetic and environmental variation. Neurons in the second thoracic segment are particularly variable with regard to two developmental decisions, whereas its segmental homologs are more robust. This variability “hotspot” depends on Ultrabithorax expression in the 12A neurons, indicating variability is cell-intrinsic and under genetic control. 12A development is more variable and sensitive to temperature in long-established laboratory strains than in strains recently derived from the wild. Strains with a high frequency of one of the 12A variants also showed a high frequency of animals with delayed spontaneous flight initiation, whereas other wing-related behaviors did not show such a correlation and were thus not overtly affected by 12A variation. These results show that neurodevelopmental robustness is variable and under genetic control in Drosophila and suggest that the fly may serve as a model for identifying conserved gene pathways that stabilize wiring in stressful developmental environments. Moreover, some neuronal lineages are variation hotspots and thus may be more amenable to evolutionary change.

During Drosophila brain development, a neuron-specific endolysosomal degradation pathway provides a mechanism for continuous guidance receptor turnover and proper connectivity., Axon pathfinding and synapse formation rely on precise spatiotemporal localization of guidance receptors. However, little is known about the neuron-specific intracellular trafficking mechanisms that underlie the sorting and activity of these receptors. Here we show that loss of the neuron-specific v-ATPase subunit a1 leads to progressive endosomal guidance receptor accumulations after neuronal differentiation. In the embryo and in adult photoreceptors, these accumulations occur after axon pathfinding and synapse formation is complete. In contrast, receptor missorting occurs sufficiently early in neurons of the adult central nervous system to cause connectivity defects. An increase of guidance receptors, but not of membrane proteins without signaling function, causes specific gain-of-function phenotypes. A point mutant that promotes sorting but prevents degradation reveals spatiotemporally specific guidance receptor turnover and accelerates developmental defects in photoreceptors and embryonic motor neurons. Our findings indicate that a neuron-specific endolysosomal degradation mechanism is part of the cell biological machinery that regulates guidance receptor turnover and signaling., Author Summary Brain wiring is determined by genetic and environmental factors, nature and nurture. The Drosophila brain is a model for the genetic basis of brain wiring. The fly visual system in particular is thought to be “hard-wired,” i.e., encoded solely by a genetic program. Some key genes encode the guidance receptors that serve as “wiring” and synaptic connectivity signals. However, it is poorly understood how guidance receptors are spatiotemporally regulated to serve as meaningful synapse formation signals. Indeed, many genes required for brain wiring do not encode the guidance receptors themselves, but rather encode parts of the cell biological machinery that governs their spatiotemporal signaling dynamics. For example, the vesicular ATPase is an intracellular sorting and acidification complex involved in regulating guidance receptor turnover and signaling. The protein V100 is a member of this v-ATPase complex, and in this study we show that mutations in the v100 gene cause brain wiring defects specifically in the adult brain. We further describe a V100-dependent intracellular “sort-and-degrade” mechanism that is required in neurons, and find that when this mechanism is perturbed, it leads to progressive build-up of and aberrant signaling by guidance receptors. These data suggest that a v100-dependent neuronal degradation mechanism provides a cell biological basis for guidance receptor turnover and spatiotemporally controlled dynamics during neural circuit formation.