RESEARCH ARTICLE RNA-seq analysis of Drosophila clock and non- clock neurons reveals neuron-specific cycling and novel candidate neuropeptides Katharine C. Abruzzi, Abigail Zadina¤a, Weifei Luo, Evelyn Wiyanto¤b, Reazur Rahman, Fang Guo, Orie Shafer¤c, Michael Rosbash* Howard Hughes Medical Institute and National Center for Behavioral Genomics,Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, United States of America ¤a Current address: Columbia University, Graduate School in Neurobiology and Behavior, New York, New a1111111111 York, United States of America a1111111111 ¤b Current address: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie, PA, United States of America a1111111111 ¤c Current address: University of Michigan, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Ann Arbor, MI, a1111111111 Massachusetts, United States of America a1111111111 *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Locomotor activity rhythms are controlled by a network of ~150 circadian neurons within the Citation: Abruzzi KC, Zadina A, Luo W, Wiyanto E, adult Drosophila brain. They are subdivided based on their anatomical locations and proper- Rahman R, Guo F, et al. (2017) RNA-seq analysis ties. We profiled transcripts ªaround the clockº from three key groups of circadian neurons of Drosophila clock and non-clock neurons reveals with different functions. We also profiled a non-circadian outgroup, dopaminergic (TH) neu- neuron-specific cycling and novel candidate neuropeptides. PLoS Genet 13(2): e1006613. rons. They have cycling transcripts but fewer than clock neurons as well as low expression doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006613 and poor cycling of clock gene transcripts. This suggests that TH neurons do not have a Editor: Achim Kramer, ChariteÂÐ canonical circadian clock and that their gene expression cycling is driven by brain systemic UniversitaÈtsmedizin Berlin, GERMANY cues.