RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Acute Induction of Conserved Synaptic Signaling Pathways in Drosophila Melanogaster JF The Journal of Neuroscience JO J. Neurosci. FD Society for Neuroscience SP 6362 OP 6372 DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-15-06362.2003 VO 23 IS 15 A1 C. A. Hoeffer A1 S. Sanyal A1 M. Ramaswami YR 2003 UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/15/6362.abstract AB Analyses of early molecular and cellular events associated with long-term plasticity remain hampered in Drosophila by the lack of an acute procedure to activate signal transduction pathways, gene expression patterns, and other early cellular events associated with long-term synaptic change. Here we describe the development and first use of such a technique. Bursts of neural activity induced in Drosophila comatosets and CaP60AKumts mutants, with conditional defects in N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion factor 1 and sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase, respectively, result in persistent (>4 hr) activation of neuronal extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). ERK activation at the larval neuromuscular junction coincides with rapid reduction of synaptic Fasciclin II; in soma, nuclear translocation of activated ERK occurs together with increased transcription of the immediate-early genes Fos and c/EBP (CCAAT element binding protein). The effect of “seizure-stimulation” on ERK activation requires neural activity and is mediated through activation of MEK (MAPK/erk kinase), the MAPKK (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase) that functions upstream of ERK. Our results (1) provide direct proof for the conservation of synaptic signaling pathways in arthropods, (2) demonstrate the utility of a new genetic tool for analysis of synaptic plasticity in Drosophila, and (3) potentially enable new proteomic and genomic analyses of activity-regulated molecules in an important model organism.Figure 1. Temperature dependence of paralysis in Drosophila Na + channel (parats1), NSF (comttp7), and SERCA (CaP60AKum170) mutants. Drosophila were exposed to different restrictive temperatures for 2 min and assayed for paralysis. Tight and distinct restrictive temperatures for Drosophila mutants shown in the figure are parats1 (30°C), comttp7 (35°C), and Ca60AKum170 (40°C).