Erschienen:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020
Erschienen in:Scientific Reports
Sprache:
Englisch
DOI:
10.1038/s41598-020-68601-2
ISSN:
2045-2322
Entstehung:
Anmerkungen:
Beschreibung:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) play crucial roles in adaptation to cold environments in a wide variety of animals and plants. However, the mechanisms by which PUFAs affect thermoregulatory behaviour remain elusive. Thus, we investigated the roles of PUFAs in thermoregulatory behaviour of <jats:italic>Drosophila melanogaster</jats:italic>. To this end, we generated transgenic flies expressing <jats:italic>Caenorhabditis elegans</jats:italic> Δ12 fatty acid desaturase (FAT-2), which converts mono-unsaturated fatty acids to PUFAs such as linoleic acid [C18:2 (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>-6)] and linolenic acid [C18:3 (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>-3)]. Neuron-specific expression of FAT-2 using the GAL4/UAS expression system led to increased contents of C18:2 (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic>-6)-containing phospholipids in central nerve system (CNS) and caused significant decreases in preferred temperature of third instar larvae. In genetic screening and calcium imaging analyses of thermoreceptor-expressing neurons, we demonstrated that ectopic expression of FAT-2 in TRPA1-expressing neurons led to decreases in preferred temperature by modulating neuronal activity. We conclude that functional expression of FAT-2 in a subset of neurons changes the thermoregulatory behaviour of <jats:italic>D. melanogaster</jats:italic>, likely by modulating quantities of PUFA-containing phospholipids in neuronal cell membranes.</jats:p>