Disease relevance of npf

• Males lacking ms-npf expression (through tra(F)-mediated feminization) or npf-ablated male flies display significantly reduced male courtship activity, suggesting that one function of ms-npf neurons is to modulate fruitless-regulated sexual behavior [1].
• Neuropeptide F and its expression in the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti [2].

Psychiatry related information on npf

• In this issue of Neuron, Wu et al. show a dual role for the Drosophila NPY (dNPF) in the developmental regulation of larval foraging and social behaviors, demonstrating a conserved role for this peptide in complex behaviors [3].
• The dNPF system provides a new paradigm for studying the central control of cooperative behavior [4].
• Recently, Drosophila neuropeptide F, which is the homolog of the vertebrate neuropeptide Y, was cloned, and the function of Drosophila neuropeptide F in feeding behaviors was well characterized [5].

High impact information on npf

• The brain expression of npf is high in larvae attracted to food, whereas its downregulation coincides with the onset of behaviors of older larvae, including food aversion, hypermobility, and cooperative burrowing [4].
• Loss of dNPF signaling in young transgenic larvae led to the premature display of behavioral phenotypes associated with older larvae [4].
• Flies deficient in NPF/NPFR1 signaling showed decreased alcohol sensitivity, whereas those overexpressing NPF exhibited the opposite phenotype [6].
• A single point mutation within this NPF motif abolishes the transcriptional activity of the Pygo NHD in vitro and strongly reduces Wg signalling in vivo [7].
• A Drosophila melanogaster G-protein-coupled receptor (NPFR76F) that is activated by neuropeptide F-like peptides has been expressed in Xenopus oocytes to determine its ability to regulate heterologously expressed G-protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels [8].

Biological context of npf

• We provide indications that gustatory stimulation by sugar, but not its ingestion or metabolism, is sufficient to trigger long-term, dose-dependent alterations of the dNPF neuronal circuit through both dnpf activation and increased synaptic transmission [9].
• Potential receptors for Drosophila neuropeptide F (DmNPF) were identified in the genome database [10].
• Ang-NPF exhibited high affinity (IC50 approximately 3 nM) membrane binding; NPFs from Aedes aegypti (Aea-NPF) and Drosophila melanogaster (Drm-NPF) were less potent, with the rank order: Ang-NPF>Aea-NPF>Drm-NPF>Drm-NPF8-36 [11].
• The conservation of the TMRs in all SCAMPs with the variable presence of N-terminal NPF repeats suggests that in addition to the role of some SCAMPs in endocytosis mediated by their NPF repeats, all SCAMPs perform a "core" function in membrane traffic mediated by their TMRs [12].

Anatomical context of npf

• Immunocytochemistry and Northern blots confirmed that both the brain and midgut of females are likely sources of NPF, found at its highest hemolymph titer before and 24 h after a blood meal [2].

Associations of npf with chemical compounds

• Furthermore, controlled functional disruption of NPF or NPFR1 neurons in adults rapidly confers resistance to ethanol sedation [6].
• The putative endogenous short Drosophila NPF-like peptides showed agonist-specific coupling depending on whether their actions were assessed as the activation of the inwardly rectifying potassium channels or as the activation of endogenous inward chloride channels through a co-expressed promiscuous G-protein, Galpha16 [8].

Physical interactions of npf

• As anticipated, the NPF motifs in STNB are found to be high-affinity binding motifs for the EH domains of DAP-160 [13].

Other interactions of npf

• Drosophila neuropeptide F and its receptor, NPFR1, define a signaling pathway that acutely modulates alcohol sensitivity [6].
• The STNB protein contains a domain that has homology with the mu-subunit of the AP (adaptor protein) complex, as well as a number of NPF (Asp-Pro-Phe) motifs known to bind EH (Eps15 homology) domains [13].
• Using neuropeptide precursors from Drosophila melanogaster as a query, we succeeded in annotating the Locusta neuropeptide F, allatostatin-C and ecdysis-triggering hormone precursor, which until now had not been identified in locusts or in any other heterometabolous insect [14].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of npf

• In situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry showed that Drosophila NPF was expressed in the brain and midgut of fly larvae and adults [15].
• A neuropeptide F (NPF) was isolated from the fruit fly, Drosophila mellanogaster, based on a radioimmunoassay for a gut peptide from the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea [15].
• A partial sequence was obtained from the fly peptide, and a genomic sequence coding for NPF was cloned after inverse polymerase chain reaction and shown to exist as a single genomic copy [15].

References