A Neuropeptide Signaling Network That Regulates Developmental Timing and Systemic Growth in Drosophila

ABSTRACT Animals sense chemical cues such as nutritious and noxious stimuli through the chemosensory system and adapt their behavior, physiology, and developmental schedule to the environment. In the Drosophila central nervous system, chemosensory interneurons that produce neuropeptides called Hugin (Hug) peptides receive signals from gustatory receptor neurons and regulate feeding behavior. Because Hug neurons project their axons to the higher brain region within the protocerebrum where dendrites of multiple neurons producing developmentally important neuropeptides are extended, it has been postulated that Hug neurons regulate development through the neuroendocrine system. In this study, we show that Hug neurons interact with a subset of protocerebrum neurons that produce prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) and regulate the onset of metamorphosis and systemic growth. Loss of the hug gene and silencing of Hug neurons caused a delay in larval‐to‐prepupal transition and an increase in final body size. Furthermore, deletion of Hug receptor‐encoding genes also caused developmental delay and body size increase, and the phenotype was restored by expressing Hug receptors in PTTH‐producing neurons. These results indicate that Hug neurons regulate developmental timing and body size via PTTH‐producing neurons. This study provides a basis for understanding how chemosensation is converted into neuroendocrine signaling to control insect growth and development. Anatomical as well as genetic analyses were performed to elucidate the role of neurons that produce neuropeptides called Hugin peptides in the larval central nervous system of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Results suggest that Hugin peptides regulate developmental timing and body size via neurons that produce prothoracicotropic hormone.