Optogenetics in Drosophila

Abstract

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an insect 5 mm long, has served as the experimental subject in a wide range of biological research, including neuroscience. In this chapter, we briefly introduce optogenetic applications in Drosophila neuroscience research. First, we describe the development of Drosophila, from egg to adult. In fly neuroscience, temperature-controlled perturbation of neural activity, sometimes called ‘thermogenetics’ has been an invaluable tool that pre-dates the advent of optogenetics. After briefly introducing this perturbation technique, we describe the process of generating transgenic flies that express optogenetic probes in a specific group of cells. Transgenic techniques are crucial in the application of optogenetics in Drosophila neuroscience; here we introduce the transposon P elements and ϕC31 integrase methods. As for cell-specific gene expression techniques, the binary expression systems utilizing Gal4-UAS and LexA-LexAop are described. We also present a short and basic optogenetic experiment with Drosophila larvae as a practical example. Finally, we review a few recent (as of 2014) studies in Drosophila neuroscience that made use of optogenetics. In this overview of fly development, transgenic methods, and applications of optogenetics, we present an introductory background to optogenetics in Drosophila.