Biomedical subjects

Carolina Gomez-Diaz

Publications and source records attributed to Carolina Gomez-Diaz.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2026

Differential expression of neuronal function genes follows a tissue-specific temporal dynamic during Deformed Wing Virus infection in honey bees.

Deformed Wing Virus type A (DWV-A) is one of the primary threats to honeybees (Apis mellifera), significantly impacting their nervous system physiology and behavior. While its neurotropic nature is well-recognized, the temporal dynamics of the neuronal transcriptomic response following oral infection, the natural transmission route, remains poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed gene expression in the heads of worker bees orally inoculated with DWV-A over a 16-day time course (1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 days post-inoculation). RNA-seq analysis at day 10 identified 147 differentially expressed genes associated with different biological processes that are critical to the organism, including cellular metabolism and neuronal activity. RT-qPCR validation revealed a persistent downregulation of key genes related to glutamatergic system (eaat-2, neto, and kainate) and sensory perception-related genes in the antennae. Notably, the simultaneous co-expression of nurse-associated and forager-associated marker genes suggests that DWV-A infection induces an asynchrony in behavioral maturation. Our findings demonstrate that DWV-A disrupts neuronal homeostasis and peripheral sensory perception in a tissue-specific and time-dependent manner, providing a molecular framework to understand the behavioral impairment and the loss of coordination at the colony level.

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PubMed2006

The Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate kinase1 gene affects olfactory reception in Drosophila melanogaster.

The Inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) route is one of the two main transduction cascades that mediate olfactory reception in Drosophila melanogaster. The activity of IP3 kinase1 reduces the levels of this substrate by phosphorylation into inositol 1,3,4,5-tetrakiphosphate (IP4). We show here that the gene is expressed in olfactory sensory organs as well as in the rest of the head. To evaluate in vivo the olfactory functional effects of up-regulating IP3K1, individuals with directed genetic changes at the reception level only were generated using the UAS/Gal4 method. In this report, we described the consequences in olfactory perception of overexpressing the IP3Kinase1 gene at eight different olfactory receptor-neuron subsets. Six out of the eight studied Gal-4/UAS-IP3K1 hybrids displayed abnormal behavioral responses to ethyl acetate, acetone, ethanol or propionaldehyde. Specific behavioral defects corresponded to the particular neuronal olfactory profile. These data confirm the role of the IP3kinase1 gene, and consequently the IP3 transduction cascade, in mediating olfactory information at the reception level.

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PubMed2004

The cAMP transduction cascade mediates olfactory reception in Drosophila melanogaster.

Two main second messenger systems depending on IP3 and cAMP have been related to olfaction in vertebrates as well as invertebrates. In Drosophila melanogaster, the availability of mutations affecting one or the other pathway (rdgB and norpA or rut and dnc, respectively) allowed showing of abnormal olfactory behavior phenotypes associated with olfactory transduction in complete living animals. However, because rut and dnc genes showed ubiquitous expression at olfactory receptor organs and some brain locations, the mutant behavior cannot be assigned exclusively to olfactory reception. In this report, overexpression of the dnc gene directed specifically to different olfactory receptor neuron subsets was used to produce dominant mutants. Abnormal olfactory behavior was found in 62.5% of the 8 lines studied in response to some odorants, depending on the affected neuronal subset. These results suggest that even for a small number of tested odorants (5), cAMP cascade is involved in olfactory reception to an important extent.

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PubMedDate not supplied

High efficiency of a double-screening method on single P-element insertion lines to identify quantitative trait mutants in Drosophila melanogaster.

Enhancer trap P-element insertion has become a common method for generating new mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. When this method is used to isolate mutants for quantitative traits, an appropriate control must be established to define normal and mutant phenotypes. Considering that enhancer-trap lines are generated by crossing several strains, usually with no homogeneous genetic background, no clear control strain can be selected. Previous reports tried to overcome this problem by homogenizing the genetic background of the original lines. However, this is not the most common scenario, especially when functional phenotypes are studied in previously generated lines. Without such caution, is it possible to identify functional mutants among P-element insertion lines? We tested this for olfactory preference, a quantitative trait. Using as control measurement the average phenotype of 30 simultaneously generated P-element insertion lines with preferential reporter-gene expression in olfactory reception organs, we found that 25 of the lines exhibited mutant phenotypes in response to one or several of 5 tested odorants. Additional tests showed that the efficiency of the method for detecting olfactory mutations exceeded 60% even for such a small number of tested odorants. According to these results this approach greatly facilitates the identification of putative abnormal phenotypes, which must be extensively confirmed afterwards.

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