Expression data from electrically-altered larval Drosophila LNvs

While intensely studied in the context of synaptic plasticity, the interplay between electrical activity and transcription is also relevant to circadian pacemaker neurons where ~24hr rhythms in gene expression and neural activity define the functional state of clock neurons. Here we demonstrate broad transcriptional changes in Drosophila circadian pacemaker neurons (LNvs) in response to altered electrical activity, including a large set of circadian genes. We used microarrays to identify the global program of gene expression in purified Drosophila pacemaker neurons in response to targeted electrical manipulations Drosophila larval brains (L3 stage) were dissected on the second day in constant darkness following a 12:12hr light entrainment regime. Larvae contained a Pdf-RFP transgene that labels 8 LNvs pacemaker neurons per brain, allowing purification by flow cytometry. Larvae also contained transgenes (NachBac and Kir) to specifically manipulate the electrical properties of LNvs. Brains were dissociated and LNvs purified by FACS, followed by RNA amplification and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. We generated expression profiles of LNvs isolated at CT3 expressing Kir and GFP in the cyc0 mutant background. Drosophila larval brains (L3 stage) were dissected on the second day in constant darkness following a 12:12hr light entrainment regime. Brains were dissociated and LNvs purified by FACS, followed by RNA amplification and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.