Lmst

An organism's internal state & behavioral outcomes are shaped by experience. This study reveals a #neuropeptide relay pathway, neuronal & non-neuronal, which orchestrates #SynapticPlasticity & context-dependent shifts in #mating duration in male #Drosophila @PLOSBiology https://plos.io/4n8aUSV

Social-sexual experience remodels SIFa-SIFaR synapses in the brain and ventral nerve cord of Drosphila melanogaster. Conditions from left to right: group reared, single reared, and sexually experienced.

bHLH genes have diverse roles during the development of the nervous system; this functional study of five #Celegans bHLH genes shows that some of them can regulate #neuropeptide secretion & significantly expand lifespan when mutated #plosbiology plos.io/3W7OQMs

We wrote a review with Rafa Yuste on "Non-synaptic encoding of behavior by neuropeptides".
You can read it here:
https://zenodo.org/records/13691702
#neuroscience #neuropeptide #science

Reconstruction of peptidergic networks in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. (A) Transgenic labeling of neurons expressing an LWamide neuropeptide. (B-C) Ligand activation curves of a Nematostella RPamide (B) and FLRNamide (C) receptor activated by two different peptides with different dose-response relationships. (D) Bipartite neuropeptide-GPCR interaction networks for all known Nematostella peptidergic signaling pairs. (E) Cellular signaling networks between LRWamide-expressing cells and cells expressing one of four LRWamide receptors. Edges are colored by receptor type in the target cell.

Some female #ants display #PhenotypicPlasticity related to #reproduction, e.g. gyne <--> queen. This study shows that #neuropeptide neuroparsin A mediates physiological changes in response to insemination across ant species #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3WZCRS8

The version of record of our #Nematostella #GPCR #neuropeptide paper has now been published
https://elifesciences.org/articles/90674#content

For #cnidarian #neuroscience there are lots of new deorphanised receptors described in the paper. We also identified orthologs across cnidarian species, including corals, #Exaiptasia etc. so the resource is not limited to Nematostella.

SEM image of a Nematostella planula larva. The larva is fully ciliated and has an apical tuft of long cilia.

For our #Nematostella neuropeptide-GPCR screen paper https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/90674v1, we have now published a detailed protocol here:
https://www.bio-protocol.org/exchange/preprintdetail?type=3&id=2493
If you are interested in #GPCR #neuropeptide #pharmacology #cnidaria #neuroscience have a look!

A dose-response curve for a cnidarian GPCR receptor activated by various PRGamide neuropeptides.

Bitter Brain Breakthrough: How a Single Chemical Could Curb Female Binge Drinking
New research has identified a brain chemical that influences how men and women perceive the bitterness of alcohol. This discovery, focusing on the neuropeptide CART, found that its inhibition causes an increase in alcohol consumption in males but a decrease in females, unless the alcohol is sweetened.
https://scitechdaily.com/bitter-brain-breakthrough-how-a-single-chemical-could-curb-female-binge-drinking/ #alcohol #consumption #bitterness #CART #male #female #taste #neuropeptide

In collaboration with Alison Cole and Ulrich Technau we also mapped the peptidergic #connectome of #Nematostella, by linking peptide-expressing to receptor-expressing cells.
In #Cnidaria, tissues are extensively connected via #neuropeptide signalling.
#neuroscience

The 31 new deorphanized #neuropeptide #GPCRs from #Nematostella and the #phylogenetic trees also allowed us to predict the ligand for many receptors across #cnidarians. We hope that cnidarian researchers will functionally characterising these e.g. by #CRISPR, as the Houliston lab has done for the MIH receptor.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000614
#evolution #neuroscience

Previously, only one #GPCR with a ligand was known in #cnidaria, the receptor for the #Clytia Maturation-Inducing-Hormone. This receptor was found by Gonzalo Quiroga Artigas and Philipp Bauknecht in our lab, in a collaboration with Evelyn Houliston.
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000614
#cnidaria #neuropeptide #evolution #neuroscience

By phylogenetic reconstruction, Daniel Thiel and Luis Yanez could show that #cnidarian #neuropeptide receptors diversified independent from #GPCRs in bilateria. This parallel #evolution and expansion confirms that cnidarians do not represent the ancestral state in neuronal signalling (as implied by terms like 'pre-bilaterian') any more than bilaterians.
#receptor #evolution #neuroscience #phylogeny

In our new preprint we characterise neuropeptide signalling in the cnidarian #Nematostella.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.07.03.547448v1
Daniel Thiel and Luis Yanez-Guerra screened 64 neuropeptides against 161 G-protein coupled receptors (#GPCR) and found activating peptide ligands for 31 receptors.
#cnidaria #neuropeptide #evolution #neuroscience

Uncovering secrets of #seacucumbers! Suwansa-Ard et al., 2018 use next-gen sequencing & SequenceServer 🧬 to analyse #neuropeptide #genes, shedding light on their signalling systems. Valuable insights for improving #aquaculture in these species!

Check out the paper here 👇

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peptides.2017.10.008

#BLASTfromthepast #bioinformatics

For #neuropeptide afficionados:
Interesting new paper from James Checco's lab on two #Aplysia #allatotropin / #orexin receptors, one activated by a D-peptide the other one by an L-peptide.
Conversion of an L-stereoisomer to a D-stereoisomer is a big mystery in peptide biology - but it matters for rec specificity and lifetime.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2217604120

New research from Herring lab researchers shows that routine testing for the #stress hormone #Neuropeptide Y (#NPY) in the hours after a #heart attack has the potential to save thousands of lives.
#HeartAttack #Medical #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/01/med01312301.html

Application for participation now open for the Janelia "Neuropeptide Signaling: Bridging Cell Biology, Neurophysiology, and Behavior" #meeting in April 16 - 19, 2023.
Deadline: Jan 18
https://www.janelia.org/you-janelia/conferences/neuropeptide-signaling-bridging-cell-biology-neurophysiology-and-behavior
#Neuropeptide #Neurophysiology #Neuroscience

Excited to share our new manuscript on a novel #neuropeptide family that regulates #feeding across #evolution. Kudos to #Pat_TFrancisco for tackling this challenging project and coming up with the name #marmite. #homeostasis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.12.520095v3 Still figuring this space out. In the meantime if you want to check out the thread on the competing platform (links to the competition are allowed here?). https://twitter.com/RibeiroCarlitos/status/1605147211918196736 #drosophila

Our review with Stefan Gründer and Audrey Ortega Ramírez is out:

"Neuropeptides and DEG/ENaC ion channels: a relationship from mammals to cnidarians"

where we conclude based on structural comparisons and the #phylogeny of #neuropeptide systems that the interaction of DEG/ENaC channels with neuropeptides has diverse structural bases and many origins.

https://doi.org/10.1113/JP282309