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Mutation of the Drosophila vesicular GABA transporter disrupts visual figure detection.
- Source :
-
The Journal of experimental biology [J Exp Biol] 2010 May; Vol. 213 (Pt 10), pp. 1717-30. - Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- The role of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) release and inhibitory neurotransmission in regulating most behaviors remains unclear. The vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) is required for the storage of GABA in synaptic vesicles and provides a potentially useful probe for inhibitory circuits. However, specific pharmacologic agents for VGAT are not available, and VGAT knockout mice are embryonically lethal, thus precluding behavioral studies. We have identified the Drosophila ortholog of the vesicular GABA transporter gene (which we refer to as dVGAT), immunocytologically mapped dVGAT protein expression in the larva and adult and characterized a dVGAT(minos) mutant allele. dVGAT is embryonically lethal and we do not detect residual dVGAT expression, suggesting that it is either a strong hypomorph or a null. To investigate the function of VGAT and GABA signaling in adult visual flight behavior, we have selectively rescued the dVGAT mutant during development. We show that reduced GABA release does not compromise the active optomotor control of wide-field pattern motion. Conversely, reduced dVGAT expression disrupts normal object tracking and figure-ground discrimination. These results demonstrate that visual behaviors are segregated by the level of GABA signaling in flies, and more generally establish dVGAT as a model to study the contribution of GABA release to other complex behaviors.
- Subjects :
- Alleles
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Brain cytology
Brain metabolism
Drosophila Proteins chemistry
Drosophila Proteins genetics
Fixation, Ocular physiology
Ganglia cytology
Ganglia metabolism
Gene Knockdown Techniques
Larva cytology
Larva metabolism
Mice
Molecular Sequence Data
Movement physiology
Protein Transport
Synaptic Vesicles metabolism
Transgenes genetics
Vesicular Inhibitory Amino Acid Transport Proteins chemistry
Vesicular Inhibitory Amino Acid Transport Proteins genetics
Drosophila Proteins metabolism
Drosophila melanogaster metabolism
Mutation genetics
Vesicular Inhibitory Amino Acid Transport Proteins metabolism
Visual Perception physiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1477-9145
- Volume :
- 213
- Issue :
- Pt 10
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Journal of experimental biology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 20435823
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.036053