title: Allatostatin-A neurons inhibit feeding behavior in adult Drosophila.
abstract: How the brain translates changes in internal metabolic state or perceived food quality into alterations in feeding behavior remains poorly understood. Studies in Drosophila larvae have yielded information about neuropeptides and circuits that promote feeding, but a peptidergic neuron subset whose activation inhibits feeding in adult flies, without promoting metabolic changes that mimic the state of satiety, has not been identified. Using genetically based manipulations of neuronal activity, we show that activation of neurons (or neuroendocrine cells) expressing the neuropeptide allatostatin A (AstA) inhibits or limits several starvation-induced changes in feeding behavior in adult Drosophila, including increased food intake and enhanced behavioral responsiveness to sugar. Importantly, these effects on feeding behavior are observed in the absence of any measurable effects on metabolism or energy reserves, suggesting that AstA neuron activation is likely a consequence, not a cause, of metabolic changes that induce the state of satiety. These data suggest that activation of AstA-expressing neurons promotes food aversion and/or exerts an inhibitory influence on the motivation to feed and implicate these neurons and their associated circuitry in the mechanisms that translate the state of satiety into alterations in feeding behavior.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology 156-29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: Anne Christina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Hergarden
authors.forename: Timothy D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Tayler
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006706:Homeostasis; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C557617:GAL4 protein, Drosophila; D009479:Neuropeptides; D014157:Transcription Factors; C076523:allatostatin