Circadian fluctuations of period protein immunoreactivity in the CNS and the visual system of Drosophila

When the protein encoded by the period (per) gene, which influences circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster, was labeled with an anti- per antibody in adult flies sectioned at different times of day, regular fluctuations in the intensity of immunoreactivity were observed in cells of the visual system and central brain. These fluctuations persisted in constant darkness. Time courses of the changing levels of staining were altered in the per-short mutant: in light/dark cycles, the phase was earlier than in wild-type, and in constant darkness the period was shorter. In a per-long mutant and in behaviorally subnormal germline transformants (involving transduced per DNA), staining intensities were much fainter than in wild-type. Factors involved in initiating or maintaining the per protein cycling were investigated by examining the immunoreactivity in visual system mutants and by exposing wild-type flies to altered light/dark regimes. These genetic and environmental manipulations affected the expression of the per protein in ways that usually parallelled their effects on circadian behaviors.

[1]  W. Harris,et al.  Hereditary retinal degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster. A mutant defect associated with the phototransduction process , 1977, The Journal of general physiology.

[2]  R J Konopka,et al.  RECIPROCAL BEHAVIOUR ASSOCIATED WITH ALTERED HOMEOSTASIS AND PHOTOSENSITIVITY OF DROSOPHILA CLOCK MUTANTS , 1989, Journal of neurogenetics.

[3]  S. Kay,et al.  A circadian clock regulates transcription of the wheat Cab 1 gene. , 1988 .

[4]  Gerald M. Rubin,et al.  disconnected: A locus required for neuronal pathway formation in the visual system of drosophila , 1987, Cell.

[5]  S. Lightman.  Molecular Biology of the Eye: Genes, Vision, and Ocular Disease , 1990 .

[6]  G. Uhl,et al.  Suprachiasmatic nucleus vasopressin messenger RNA: circadian variation in normal and Brattleboro rats. , 1986, Science.

[7]  J. Besharse,et al.  Circadian clock in Xenopus eye controlling retinal serotonin N-acetyltransferase , 1983, Nature.

[8]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  Behaviour modification by in vitro mutagenesis of a variable region within the period gene of Drosophila , 1987, Nature.

[9]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  An antibody to the Drosophila period protein recognizes circadian pacemaker neurons in Aplysia and Bulla , 1989, Neuron.

[10]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  Antibodies to the period gene product of drosophila reveal diverse tissue distribution and rhythmic changes in the visual system , 1988, Neuron.

[11]  J. C. Hall,et al.  The disconnected Visual System Mutations in Drosophila melanogaster Drastically Disrupt Circadian Rhythms , 1989, Journal of biological rhythms.

[12]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  P-element transformation with period locus DNA restores rhythmicity to mutant, arrhythmic drosophila melanogaster , 1984, Cell.

[13]  R. Konopka.  Genetics of biological rhythms in Drosophila. , 1987, Annual Review of Genetics.

[14]  J. C. Hall,et al.  Germ-line transformation involving DNA from the period locus in Drosophila melanogaster: overlapping genomic fragments that restore circadian and ultradian rhythmicity to per0 and per- mutants. , 1986, Journal of neurogenetics.

[15]  M. W. Young,et al.  Changes in abundance or structure of the per gene product can alter periodicity of the Drosophila clock , 1987, Nature.

[16]  M. W. Young,et al.  Molecular genetics of a biological clock in Drosophila. , 1984, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[17]  W. Stark,et al.  Ultrastructure of the retina of Drosophila melanogaster: the mutant ora (outer rhabdomeres absent) and its inhibition of degeneration in rdgB (retinal degeneration-B). , 1987, Journal of neurogenetics.

[18]  Richard L. Martin,et al.  The Drosophila ninaE gene encodes an opsin , 1985, Cell.

[19]  W. Stark,et al.  Rhabdomere turnover and rhodopsin cycle: maintenance of retinula cells inDrosophila melanogaster , 1988, Journal of neurocytology.

[20]  G. Hoyle.  Glial cells of an insect ganglion , 1986, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[21]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  Feedback of the Drosophila period gene product on circadian cycling of its messenger RNA levels , 1990, Nature.

[22]  H. C. Johnson.  The elusive mechanism of circadian clock , 1986 .

[23]  B. T. Bloomquist,et al.  Isolation of a putative phospholipase c gene of drosophila, norpA, and its role in phototransduction , 1988, Cell.

[24]  R J Konopka,et al.  Clock mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. , 1971, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  J. C. Hall,et al.  Spatial and temporal expression of the period gene in Drosophila melanogaster. , 1988, Genes & development.

[26]  J. Takahashi,et al.  Circadian rhythms of melatonin release from individual superfused chicken pineal glands in vitro. , 1980, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[27]  H. Dowse,et al.  Rearing Drosophila in Constant Darkness Produces Phenocopies of period Circadian Clock Mutants , 1989, Physiological Zoology.

[28]  J. C. Hall,et al.  Mutations and molecules influencing biological rhythms. , 1988, Annual review of neuroscience.

[29]  Jeffrey C. Hall,et al.  A family of unusually spliced biologically active transcripts encoded by a Drosophila clock gene , 1987, Nature.

[30]  S. Brody,et al.  Circadian rhythms in Drosophila melanogaster: analysis of period as a function of gene dosage at the per (period) locus. , 1986, Journal of theoretical biology.

[31]  W. Schwartz,et al.  Vasopressin mRNA in the suprachiasmatic nuclei: daily regulation of polyadenylate tail length. , 1988, Science.

[32]  V. Wigglesworth.  The Histology of the Nervous System of an Insect, Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera) : II. The Central Ganglia , 1959 .

[33]  M. Rosbash,et al.  The period gene of Drosophila carries species‐specific behavioral instructions. , 1988, The EMBO journal.