Variability in the number of abdominal leucokinergic neurons in adult Drosophila melanogaster.

Developmental plasticity allows individuals with the same genotype to show different phenotypes in response to environmental changes. An example of this is how neuronal diversity is protected at the expense of neuronal number under sustained undernourishment during the development of the Drosophila optic lobe. In the development of the Drosophila central nervous system, neuroblasts go through two phases of neurogenesis separated by a period of mitotic quiescence.

Specification of neuronal subtypes by different levels of Hunchback.

During the development of the central nervous system, neural progenitors generate an enormous number of distinct types of neuron and glial cells by asymmetric division. Intrinsic genetic programs define the combinations of transcription factors that determine the fate of each cell, but the precise mechanisms by which all these factors are integrated at the level of individual cells are poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the specification of the neurons in the ventral nerve cord of Drosophila that express Crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP).

Origin and specification of the brain leucokinergic neurons of Drosophila: similarities to and differences from abdominal leucokinergic neurons.

Background: The Drosophila central nervous system contains many types of neurons that are derived from a limited number of progenitors as evidenced in the ventral ganglion. The situation is much more complex in the developing brain. The main neuronal structures in the adult brain are generated in the larval neurogenesis, although the basic neuropil structures are already laid down during embryogenesis.

Bithorax-complex genes sculpt the pattern of leucokinergic neurons in the Drosophila central nervous system.

Although the Hox genes are the main factors involved in the generation of diversity along the anterior/posterior body axis of segmented organisms, it is still largely unknown how these genes act in single cells to determine specific traits at precise developmental stages. The aim of this study was to understand the mechanisms by which Hox genes of the Bithorax complex (Bx-C) of Drosophila act to define segmental differences in the ventral nerve cord of the central nervous system. To achieve this, we have focused on the specification of the leucokinin-expressing neurons.

A genetic cascade involving klumpfuss, nab and castor specifies the abdominal leucokinergic neurons in the Drosophila CNS.

Identification of the genetic mechanisms underlying the specification of large numbers of different neuronal cell fates from limited numbers of progenitor cells is at the forefront of developmental neurobiology. In Drosophila, the identities of the different neuronal progenitor cells, the neuroblasts, are specified by a combination of spatial cues. These cues are integrated with temporal competence transitions within each neuroblast to give rise to a specific repertoire of cell types within each lineage.