Abstract
In vertebrates, the N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype of glutamate receptors (NMDA receptor) play an important role in neuronal development, synaptic plasticity and, memory formation. However, there are few researches about NMDAR of invertebrate. So far, The expression patterns and function of NMDA receptors in insect brain are less understood. Here, We l led drosophila NMDA receptor 1 & 2 (DrNR1 & DrNR2)DrNR1 & DrNR2 in fly brain by immunohistochemical localization. The Drosophila NMDA receptor subunit 2 (DrNR2) 2190~2651 cDNA was constructed in an E. coli expression vector (pET15b). A 20.8KDa fusion protein was purified for generation of polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Spatial distribution of DrNR1 and DrNR2 in the brain was identified using immunohistochemical l ling. Surprisingly, DrNR2 expresses in only few cells and are not all colocalized with DrNR1. To identify other proteins working together with DrNR, the expression of several memory mutants were examined. Among brain neurons expressing DrNR1, a pair of dorsal-anterior-lateral (DAL) neuron also expressed in C133 (encode phospholipase A2), krasavietz (encode eIF-5C), pastrel (novel). Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) also expressed in DAL neuron. Co-expression of several candidate memory genes suggests that DAL neuron may implicate an important role in memory formation.