Secretory Carrier Membrane Protein (SCAMP) deficiency influences behavior of adult flies

Jia Lin C. Zheng, Chook Teng Tham, Kathleen Keatings, Steven Fan, Angela Yen Chun Liou, Yuka Numata, Douglas Allan, Masayuki Numata

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Secretory Carrier Membrane Proteins (SCAMPs) are a group of tetraspanning integral membrane proteins evolutionarily conserved from insects to mammals and plants. Mammalian genomes contain five SCAMP genes SCAMP 1 -SCAMP 5 that regulate membrane dynamics, most prominently membrane-depolarization and Ca 2+ -induced regulated secretion, a key mechanism for neuronal and neuroendocrine signaling. However, the biological role of SCAMPs has remained poorly understood primarily owing to the lack of appropriate model organisms and behavior assays. Here we generate Drosophila Scamp null mutants and show that they exhibit reduced lifespan and behavioral abnormalities including impaired climbing, deficiency in odor associated long-term memory, and a susceptibility to heat-induced seizures. Neuron-specific restoration of Drosophila Scamp rescues all Scamp null behavioral phenotypes, indicating that the phenotypes are due to loss of neuronal Scamp. Remarkably, neuronal expression of human SCAMP genes rescues selected behavioral phenotypes of the mutants, suggesting the conserved function of SCAMPs across species. The newly developed Drosophila mutants present the first evidence that genetic depletion of SCAMP at the organismal level leads to varied behavioral abnormalities, and the obtained results indicate the importance of membrane dynamics in neuronal functions in vivo.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number64
JournalFrontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
Volume2
Issue numberNOV
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 18 2014

Keywords

  • Climbing assays
  • Drosophila
  • Lifespan
  • Long-term memory
  • Mobility
  • Mutant
  • Odor-associated learning
  • Vesicular trafficking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

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