Light and dopamine impact two circadian neurons to promote morning wakefulness

In both mammals and flies, circadian brain neurons orchestrate physiological oscillations and behaviors like wake and sleep—these neurons can be subdivided by morphology and by gene expression patterns. Recent single-cell sequencing studies identified 17 Drosophila circadian neuron groups. One of these includes only two lateral neurons (LNs), which are marked by the expression of the neuropeptide ion transport peptide (ITP). Although these two ITP+ LNs have long been grouped with five other circadian evening activity cells, inhibiting the two neurons alone strongly reduces morning activity, indicating that they also have a prominent morning function. As dopamine signaling promotes activity in Drosophila, like in mammals, we considered that dopamine might influence this morning activity function. Moreover, the ITP+ LNs express higher mRNA levels than other LNs of the type 1-like dopamine receptor Dop1R1. Consistent with the importance of Dop1R1, cell-specific CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis of this receptor in the two ITP+ LNs renders flies significantly less active in the morning, and ex vivo live imaging shows Dop1R1-dependent cyclic AMP (cAMP) responses to dopamine in these two neurons. Notably, the response is more robust in the morning, reflecting higher morning Dop1R1 mRNA levels in the two neurons. As mRNA levels are not elevated in constant darkness, this suggests light-dependent upregulation of morning Dop1R1 transcript levels. Taken together with the enhanced morning cAMP response to dopamine, the data indicate how light and dopamine promote morning wakefulness in flies, mimicking the important effect of light on morning wakefulness in humans. •ITP+ LNs are wake-promoting circadian neurons•Dopamine 1-like receptor 1 (Dop1R1) mRNA is upregulated in ITP+ LNs in the morning•Morning wakefulness is dependent on functional Dop1R1 expression in ITP+ LNs•The morning cAMP response to dopamine in ITP+ LNs is more rapid than the evening Light and dopamine generally enhance wakefulness. Le et al. use single-cell RNA sequencing data, transgenic manipulations, and ex vivo live imaging to characterize two discrete circadian neurons. These neurons specifically increase wakefulness in the morning through enhanced type-1 like dopamine receptor activity around the onset of light.