A glial variant of the vesicular monoamine transporter is required to store histamine in the Drosophila visual system.
Unlike other monoamine neurotransmitters, the mechanism by which the brain's histamine content is regulated remains unclear. In mammals, vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) are expressed exclusively in neurons and mediate the storage of histamine and other monoamines. We have studied the visual system of Drosophila melanogaster in which histamine is the primary neurotransmitter released from photoreceptor cells. We report here that a novel mRNA splice variant of Drosophila VMAT (DVMAT-B) is expressed not in neurons but rather in a small subset of glia in the lamina of the fly's optic lobe. Histamine contents are reduced by mutation of dVMAT, but can be partially restored by specifically expressing DVMAT-B in glia. Our results suggest a novel role for a monoamine transporter in glia that may be relevant to histamine homeostasis in other systems.
Romero-Calderón
Rafael
R
Gonda Goldschmied Center for Neuroscience and Genetics Research, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Uhlenbrock
Guido
G
Borycz
Jolanta
J
Simon
Anne F
AF
Grygoruk
Anna
A
Yee
Susan K
SK
Shyer
Amy
A
Ackerson
Larry C
LC
Maidment
Nigel T
NT
Meinertzhagen
Ian A
IA
Hovemann
Bernhard T
BT
Krantz
David E
DE
D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006632:Histamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D009899:Optic Lobe, Nonmammalian / Q000378:metabolism*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012326:RNA Splicing; D050493:Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D050493:Vesicular Monoamine Transport Proteins; D006632:Histamine