Interaction of monaminergic neurons, glia cells and circadian clock neurons in the control of Drosophila's sleep-wake cycles

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The homeostasis of transmitters is essential for normal brain function and glia cells play an essential role in it. Disturbances of this homeostasis result for example in an abnormal sleep-wake pattern. This project will investigate the regulation of monamine release (specially of dopamine and serotonin) by postulated tripartite synapses between monaminergic neurons, glia cells and circadian clock neurons of the fruit fly Dosophila melanogaster. In fruit flies, a mutation in the alanyltransferase "Ebony" that is exclusively expressed in glia cells results in disturbed sleep-wake patterns. Morphological investigations (confocal and EM) will show whether the postulated tripartite synapses exist. Sleep-wake studies of mutants with disturbed monamine transport and processing are planned to unravel the processes at synapses that lead to normal sleep. Ca++-imaging and period-luciferase imaging on cultivated brains will be performed to study the response of circadian clock neurons and glia cells to monamine transmitters as well as drugs that influence monaminergic signalling.