ArticleCurrent biology : CB2014
Balboa binds to pickpocket in vivo and is required for mechanical nociception in Drosophila larvae.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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44 citing papers in PubMed, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- Space-Dependent Oviposition Preference in Drosophila.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Article
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- From nociception in aneural animals to human suffering: toward a comparative biology of pain.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Review
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- Optogenetic Stimulation of Nociceptive Escape Behaviors inCold Spring Harbor protocols · 2025Article
- Nociception inCold Spring Harbor protocols · 2025Article
- Mechanical Nociception Assay inCold Spring Harbor protocols · 2025Article
- RNA Sequencing Dataset ofData · 2025Article
- Multiple mechanisms of action for an extremely painful venom.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Multiple mechanisms of action of an extremely painful venom.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Handling Difficult Cryo-ET Samples: A Study with Primary Neurons from Drosophila melanogaster.Microscopy and microanalysis : the official journal of Microscopy Society of America, Microbeam Analysis Society, Microscopical Society of Canada · 2023Article
- Coordination of Pickpocket ion channel delivery and dendrite growth in Drosophila sensory neurons.PLoS genetics · 2023Article
- The insulin receptor regulates the persistence of mechanical nociceptive sensitization in flies and mice.Biology open · 2023Article
- Article
- The diverse functions of the DEG/ENaC family: linking genetic and physiological insights.The Journal of physiology · 2023Article
- Mechanosensitive membrane proteins: Usual and unusual suspects in mediating mechanotransduction.The Journal of general physiology · 2023Article
- Loss ofThe Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Article
- The elegance of prickly sensations.eLife · 2022Article
- Drosophila ppk19 encodes a proton-gated and mechanosensitive ion channel.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The Drosophila gene pickpocket (ppk) encodes an ion channel subunit of the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel (DEG/ENaC) family. PPK is specifically expressed in nociceptive, class IV multidendritic (md) neurons and is functionally required for mechanical nociception responses. In this study, in a genome-wide genetic screen for other ion channel subunits required for mechanical nociception, we identify a gene that we name balboa (also known as CG8546, ppk26). Interestingly, the balboa locus encodes a DEG/ENaC ion channel subunit highly similar in amino acid sequence to PPK. Moreover, laser-capture isolation of RNA from larval neurons and microarray analyses reveal that balboa is also highly enriched in nociceptive neurons. The requirement for Balboa and PPK in mechanical nociception behaviors and their specific expression in larval nociceptors led us to hypothesize that these DEG/ENaC subunits form an ion channel complex in vivo. In nociceptive neurons, Balboa::GFP proteins distribute uniformly throughout dendrites but remarkably localize to discrete foci when ectopically expressed in other neuron subtypes (where PPK is not expressed). Indeed, ectopically coexpressing ppk transforms this punctate Balboa::GFP expression pattern to the uniform distribution observed in its native cell type. Furthermore, ppk-RNAi in class IV neurons alters the broad Balboa::GFP pattern to a punctate distribution. Interestingly, this interaction is mutually codependent as balboa-RNAi eliminates Venus::PPK from the sensory dendrites of nociceptors. Finally, using a GFP-reconstitution approach in transgenic larvae, we directly detect in vivo physical interactions among PPK and Balboa subunits. Combined, our results indicate a critical mechanical nociception function for heteromeric PPK and Balboa channels in vivo.
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