ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2012
The metabolism of histamine in the Drosophila optic lobe involves an ommatidial pathway: β-alanine recycles through the retina.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- PARK(ing) time-How park deficiency affects the biological clock in a Drosophila model of Parkinson's disease.FEBS letters · 2026Article
- Genetic screening reveals cone cell-specific factors as common genetic targets modulating rival-induced prolonged mating in male Drosophila melanogaster.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Article
- A niche-derived nonribosomal peptide triggers planarian sexual development.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- A niche-derived non-ribosomal peptide triggers planarian sexual development.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Drosophila mutants lacking the glial neurotransmitter-modifying enzyme Ebony exhibit low neurotransmitter levels and altered behavior.Scientific reports · 2023Article
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- The effects of dietary proline, β-alanine, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the nest construction behavior in the Oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis).Scientific reports · 2022Article
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- Chronic blue light leads to accelerated aging in Drosophila by impairing energy metabolism and neurotransmitter levels.Frontiers in aging · 2022Article
- Silencing ofFrontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Semper's cells in the insect compound eye: Insights into ocular form and function.Developmental biology · 2021Review
- Vesicular neurotransmitter transporters in Drosophila melanogaster.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Biomembranes · 2020Review
- CRY-dependent plasticity of tetrad presynaptic sites in the visual system of Drosophila at the morning peak of activity and sleep.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Role of the Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier in the Occurrence of Metabolic Inflexibility inMetabolites · 2020Article
- Intraspecific Variation in Nectar Chemistry and Its Implications for Insect Visitors: The Case of the Medicinal Plant,Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Expression of Mammalian BM88/CEND1 in Drosophila Affects Nervous System Development by Interfering with Precursor Cell Formation.Neuroscience bulletin · 2019Article
- The glial sodium-potassium-2-chloride cotransporter is required for synaptic transmission in the Drosophila visual system.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Location and functions of Inebriated in theBiology open · 2018Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Flies recycle the photoreceptor neurotransmitter histamine by conjugating it to β-alanine to form β-alanyl-histamine (carcinine). The conjugation is regulated by Ebony, while Tan hydrolyses carcinine, releasing histamine and β-alanine. In Drosophila, β-alanine synthesis occurs either from uracil or from the decarboxylation of aspartate but detailed roles for the enzymes responsible remain unclear. Immunohistochemically detected β-alanine is present throughout the fly's entire brain, and is enhanced in the retina especially in the pseudocone, pigment and photoreceptor cells of the ommatidia. HPLC determinations reveal 10.7 ng of β-alanine in the wild-type head, roughly five times more than histamine. When wild-type flies drink uracil their head β-alanine increases more than after drinking l-aspartic acid, indicating the effectiveness of the uracil pathway. Mutants of black, which lack aspartate decarboxylase, cannot synthesize β-alanine from l-aspartate but can still synthesize it efficiently from uracil. Our findings demonstrate a novel function for pigment cells, which not only screen ommatidia from stray light but also store and transport β-alanine and carcinine. This role is consistent with a β-alanine-dependent histamine recycling pathway occurring not only in the photoreceptor terminals in the lamina neuropile, where carcinine occurs in marginal glia, but vertically via a long pathway that involves the retina. The lamina's marginal glia are also a hub involved in the storage and/or disposal of carcinine and β-alanine.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.