Neural control of diapause

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19371
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biology of Cells to Organisms, and related fields
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (2018); Tohoku University (2017)
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Daisuke 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 未来ICT研究所, 上席研究員 (50318812)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: インスリンシグナリング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We found that Drosophila melanogaster females enter reproductive dormancy when they are kept for a week immediately after eclosion under stressful conditions, i.e., the combination of short-day length, low temperature and starvation. Here, reproductive dormancy is defined as the arrested oogenesis with no yolk accumulation in the oocyte. We showed that brain insulin-producing cells (IPCs) play a key role in controlling the initiation and termination of dormancy; Higher activity levels in IPCs were correlated with lower dormancy rates, whereas lower activity levels were correlated with higher dormancy rates. IPC activities appear to stimulate juvenile hormone synthesis in the corpora allota, thereby promoting yolk accumulation in the oocyte.

Free Research Field

生理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

休眠は、「もう一つの生命」とでも呼ぶべき異質の生存状態であり、劇的なストレス耐性を生命体に賦与する。その機構の解明は、従来、我々が手にしたことのない異次元の生命操作技術を提供するかもしれない。今回の成果は、脳のインスリン産生細胞がその制御の中心にあることを示しており、これらの細胞の膵臓β細胞との機能的類似性を考えると、ヒトでも相同の機能がある可能性も否定できず、新たな環境適応への道を模索する上で、斬新な視点を提供しうる。