Lazarus, R. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

A split-GAL4 driver line resource for Drosophila CNS cell types

Techniques that enable precise manipulations of subsets of neurons in the fly central nervous system have greatly facilitated our understanding of the neural basis of behavior. Split-GAL4 driver lines allow specific targeting of cell types in Drosophila melanogaster and other species. We describe here a collection of 3060 lines targeting a range of cell types in the adult Drosophila central nervous system and 1373 lines characterized in third-instar larvae. These tools enable functional, transcriptomic, and proteomic studies based on precise anatomical targeting. NeuronBridge and other search tools relate light microscopy images of these split-GAL4 lines to connectomes reconstructed from electron microscopy images. The collections are the result of screening over 77,000 split hemidriver combinations. Previously published and new lines are included, all validated for driver expression and curated for optimal cell type specificity across diverse cell types. In addition to images and fly stocks for these well-characterized lines, we make available 300,000 new 3D images of other split-GAL4 lines.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

The behavioral and neurobiological effects of reduced Brd1 expression in mice are sex-biased and implicate gender dependent dysregulation of nuclear receptor mediated signaling in mental disorders

The schizophrenia and bipolar disorder associated gene, BRD1, encodes a scaffold protein that in complex with epigenetic modifiers regulate gene sets enriched for psychiatric disorder risk. Preclinical evidence from male Brd1+/- mice has previously implicated BRD1 with phenotypes of translational relevance to schizophrenia. Here we describe the phenotype of female Brd1+/- mice and report attenuated dendritic architecture and monoaminergic dysregulation accompanied by sex-specific changes in affective behaviors. In accordance, global gene expression profiling reveals regional dysregulation of gene sets enriched with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia risk in female and male Brd1+/- mice, respectively. Independent of sex, however, differentially expressed genes cluster in common functional pathways associated with psychiatric disorders, including mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative phosphorylation as well as G-protein coupled-, and nuclear receptor mediated signaling. Accordingly, we provide in vitro evidence that BRD1 modulates the transcriptional drive of a subset of nuclear receptors (e.g. the vitamin D and glucocorticoid receptors). Moreover, we demonstrate enrichment of psychiatric disorder risk in the target genes of nuclear receptors, sex-biased expression of several nuclear receptor genes in the adult brain of Brd1+/- mice, and that sex-biased genes in general are enriched with nuclear receptor genes particularly at the earliest developmental stage of the human brain. Overall, our data suggests that the spatio-temporal interaction between BRD1 and subsets of nuclear receptors in the brain is sex-biased and that hampered BRD1 mediated regulation of target genes governed by certain nuclear receptors may significantly contribute to sex differences in psychopathology.

neuroscience↗