RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Temporal correlation of elevated PRMT1 gene expression with mushroom body neurogenesis during bumblebee brain development
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 449116
DO 10.1101/449116
A1 Cui Guan
A1 Michaela Egertová
A1 Clint J. Perry
A1 Lars Chittka
A1 Alexandar Chittka
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/21/449116.abstract
AB Proper neural development in insects depends on the controlled proliferation and differentiation of neural precursors. In holometabolous insects, these processes must be coordinated during larval and pupal development. Recently, protein arginine methylation has come into focus as an important mechanism of controlling neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation in mammals. Whether a similar mechanism is at work in insects is unknown. We investigated this possibility by determining the expression pattern of three protein arginine methyltransferase mRNAs (PRMT1, 4 and 5) in the developing brain of bumblebees by in situ hybridisation. We detected expression in neural precursors and neurons in functionally important brain areas throughout development. We found markedly higher expression of PRMT1, but not PRMT4 and PRMT5, in regions of mushroom bodies containing dividing cells during pupal stages at the time of active neurogenesis within this brain area. At later stages of development, PRMT1 expression levels were found to be uniform and did not correlate with actively dividing cells. Our study suggests a role for PRMT1 in regulating neural precursor divisions in the mushroom bodies of bumblebees during the period of neurogenesis.