The Gr64 cluster of gustatory receptors promotes survival and proteostasis of epithelial cells in Drosophila

Gustatory Receptor 64 (Gr64) genes are a cluster of 6 neuronally expressed receptors involved in sweet taste sensation in Drosophila melanogaster. Gr64s modulate calcium signalling and excitatory responses to several different sugars. Here, we discover an unexpected nonneuronal function of Gr64 rece...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS biology 2022-07, Vol.20 (7), p.e3001710-e3001710
Main Authors: Baumgartner, Michael E, Mastrogiannopoulos, Alex, Kucinski, Iwo, Langton, Paul F, Piddini, Eugenia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Apoptosis
Autophagy
Biology and Life Sciences
Calcium signalling
Cell activation
Cell death
Clusters
Discovery Report
Drosophila
Drosophila - metabolism
Drosophila melanogaster - metabolism
Drosophila Proteins - genetics
Drosophila Proteins - metabolism
Epithelial cells
Epithelial Cells - metabolism
Epithelium
Fruit flies
Glycerol
Imaginal discs
Insects
Mutation
Proteasomes
Proteins
Proteostasis - genetics
Receptor mechanisms
Receptors
Receptors, Cell Surface - genetics
Receptors, Cell Surface - metabolism
Research and Analysis Methods
Sensation
Signal transduction
Social Sciences
Stress
Sugar
Survival
Sweet taste
Taste - physiology
Taste receptors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Gustatory Receptor 64 (Gr64) genes are a cluster of 6 neuronally expressed receptors involved in sweet taste sensation in Drosophila melanogaster. Gr64s modulate calcium signalling and excitatory responses to several different sugars. Here, we discover an unexpected nonneuronal function of Gr64 receptors and show that they promote proteostasis in epithelial cells affected by proteotoxic stress. Using heterozygous mutations in ribosome proteins (Rp), which have recently been shown to induce proteotoxic stress and protein aggregates in cells, we show that Rp/+ cells in Drosophila imaginal discs up-regulate expression of the entire Gr64 cluster and depend on these receptors for survival. We further show that loss of Gr64 in Rp/+ cells exacerbates stress pathway activation and proteotoxic stress by negatively affecting autophagy and proteasome function. This work identifies a noncanonical role in proteostasis maintenance for a family of gustatory receptors known for their function in neuronal sensation.
ISSN:1545-7885
1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001710