Transcriptomic screen to identify genes regulated by Store-operated calcium entry in Drosophila pupal nervous system. Drosophila melanogaster

Transcriptional regulation by Store-operated Calcium Entry (SOCE) is well studied in non-excitable cells. However, the role of SOCE has been poorly documented in neuronal cells with more complicated calcium dynamics. Previous reports demonstrated a requirement of neuronal SOCE for Drosophila flight. We identified the early pupal stage to be critical and used RNA-sequencing to identify SOCE mediated gene expression changes in the developing Drosophila pupal nervous system. We down-regulated dStim, the endoplasmic reticular calcium sensor and a principal component of SOCE in the nervous system for a 24h period during pupal development, and compared wild type and knockdown transcriptional profiles, immediately after knockdown as well as after a 36h recovery period. We found that dStim knockdown altered the expression of a number of genes. We also characterized one of the down-regulated genes, Ral for its role in flight. Thus, we identify neuronal SOCE as a mechanism that regulates expression of a number of genes during the development of the pupal nervous system. These genes can be further studied in the context of pupal nervous system development. Overall design: mRNA sequencing from two biological replicates each of wild type and dStim knockdown pupal brains at two time points - 36h APF (post 24h knockdown) and at 72h APF (Post knockdown and recovery)