Serotonin transporter dependent modulation of food-seeking behavior

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 24;15(1):e0227554. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227554. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

The olfactory pathway integrates the odor information required to generate correct behavioral responses. To address how changes of serotonin signaling in two contralaterally projecting, serotonin-immunoreactive deutocerebral neurons impacts key odorant attraction in Drosophila melanogaster, we selectively alter serotonin signaling using the serotonin transporter with mutated serotonin binding sites in these neurons and analyzed the consequence on odorant-guided food seeking. The expression of the mutated serotonin transporter selectively changed the odorant attraction in an odorant-specific manner. The shift in attraction was not influenced by more up-stream serotonergic mechanisms mediating behavioral inhibition. The expression of the mutated serotonin transporter in CSD neurons did not influence other behaviors associated with food seeking such as olfactory learning and memory or food consumption. We provide evidence that the change in the attraction by serotonin transporter function might be achieved by increased serotonin signaling and by different serotonin receptors. The 5-HT1B receptor positively regulated the attraction to low and negatively regulated the attraction to high concentrations of acetic acid. In contrast, 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors negatively regulated the attraction in projection neurons to high acetic acid concentrations. These results provide insights into how serotonin signaling in two serotonergic neurons selectively regulates the behavioral response to key odorants during food seeking.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / cytology
  • Drosophila melanogaster / metabolism
  • Feeding Behavior*
  • Serotonin / metabolism
  • Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction

Substances

  • Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins
  • Serotonin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the German Science Foundation (DFG) and the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC). Scho 656/7-2 Heisenberg Professorship, DFG Scho 656/8-1 and SFB1340 to HS; CSC fellowship to JH. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.