Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Department of Genetics, Washington University, Saint Louis, United States
Hui-Min Chen
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Xi Long
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States
Tzumin Lee
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States
Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ashburn, United States; Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington, Friday Harbor, United States
The vast majority of the adult fly ventral nerve cord is composed of 34 hemilineages, which are clusters of lineally related neurons. Neurons in these hemilineages use one of the three fast-acting neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, GABA, or glutamate) for communication. We generated a comprehensive neurotransmitter usage map for the entire ventral nerve cord. We did not find any cases of neurons using more than one neurotransmitter, but found that the acetylcholine specific gene ChAT is transcribed in many glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons, but these transcripts typically do not leave the nucleus and are not translated. Importantly, our work uncovered a simple rule: All neurons within a hemilineage use the same neurotransmitter. Thus, neurotransmitter identity is acquired at the stem cell level. Our detailed transmitter- usage/lineage identity map will be a great resource for studying the developmental basis of behavior and deciphering how neuronal circuits function to regulate behavior.