2020/09/07 by Sînziana Pop, Chin‐Lin Chen, Connor J Sproston +3 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Neuroscience · #Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms #Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research #Plant Molecular Biology Research
paper · doi:10.7554/elife.59566
openalex publication_date 2020/09/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Changes to the structure and function of neural networks are thought to underlie the evolutionary adaptation of animal behaviours. Among the many developmental phenomena that generate change programmed cell death (PCD) appears to play a key role. We show that cell death occurs continuously throughout insect neurogenesis and happens soon after neurons are born. Mimicking an evolutionary role for increasing cell numbers, we artificially block PCD in the medial neuroblast lineage in Drosophila melanogaster , which results in the production of ‘undead’ neurons with complex arborisations and distinct neurotransmitter identities. Activation of these ‘undead’ neurons and recordings of neural activity in behaving animals demonstrate that they are functional. Focusing on two dipterans which have lost flight during evolution we reveal that reductions in populations of flight interneurons are likely caused by increased cell death during development. Our findings suggest that the evolutionary modulation of death-based patterning could generate novel network configurations.