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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0eLife

foxQ2 marks fast-acting interneurons including dopaminergic neurons of mushroom bodies and central complex in the beetle Tribolium castaneum

  • Ying Pang1
  • Bastian Klußmann-Fricke2
  • Doga Cedden1
  • Jiajun Zhang3
  • Johannes B Schinko1,4
  • Michalis Averof4
  • Thomas Dieter Riemensperger3
  • Gregor Bucher1
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Evolutionary Developmental Genetics, University of Göttingen, GZMB, Göttingen, Germany
  2. 2Abberior Instruments GmbH, Göttingen, Germany
  3. 3Institute of Zoology, Experimental Morphology and Neuroanatomy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
  4. 4Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon (IGFL), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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Abstract

The brain is one of the most complex animal organs, and the development of the many different neuron types remains enigmatic. A set of brain-specific transcription factors is involved in brain patterning, but their specific contributions mostly remain to be elucidated, including foxQ2II. This transcription factor is conserved in anterior neuroectodermal patterning of most animals, while it has been lost from vertebrates. The contribution of foxQ2II-positive neurons to the adult brain has remained enigmatic. Here, we use our enhancer trap, immunostainings, and our newly established beetle brainbow system to categorize Tc-foxQ2II-positive neurons into nine clusters with different projection patterns. All clusters contain neurons with the fast-activating neurotransmitters acetylcholine and glutamate, while no Tc-foxQ2II-positive neuron is GABA-ergic or serotonin-positive. Interestingly, we found that many dopaminergic neurons were Tc-foxQ2II positive and homologize them with dopaminergic neurons of the PPL2c, PPM1, and PPL1 cluster described in the Drosophila brain. Our results show that Tc-foxQ2II marks subsets of fast-acting interneurons contributing to the higher-order brain centers mushroom bodies and central complex. Taken together, our work expands the known functional range of foxQ2 genes from sensory and neurosecretory cell specification to interneurons involved in the function of higher-order brain centers.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{pang2026foxq2,
  title = {{foxQ2 marks fast-acting interneurons including dopaminergic neurons of mushroom bodies and central complex in the beetle Tribolium castaneum}},
  author = {Ying Pang and Bastian Klußmann-Fricke and Doga Cedden and Jiajun Zhang and Johannes B Schinko and Michalis Averof and Thomas Dieter Riemensperger and Gregor Bucher},
  journal = {eLife},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.7554/elife.111703},
  url = {https://elifesciences.org/articles/111703},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - foxQ2 marks fast-acting interneurons including dopaminergic neurons of mushroom bodies and central complex in the beetle Tribolium castaneum
AU  - Ying Pang
AU  - Bastian Klußmann-Fricke
AU  - Doga Cedden
AU  - Jiajun Zhang
AU  - Johannes B Schinko
AU  - Michalis Averof
AU  - Thomas Dieter Riemensperger
AU  - Gregor Bucher
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/27
JO  - eLife
DO  - 10.7554/elife.111703
UR  - https://elifesciences.org/articles/111703
AB  - The brain is one of the most complex animal organs, and the development of the many different neuron types remains enigmatic. A set of brain-specific transcription factors is involved in brain patterning, but their specific contributions mostly remain to be elucidated, including foxQ2II. This transcription factor is conserved in anterior neuroectodermal patterning of most animals, while it has been lost from vertebrates. The contribution of foxQ2II-positive neurons to the adult brain has remained enigmatic. Here, we use our enhancer trap, immunostainings, and our newly established beetle brainbow system to categorize Tc-foxQ2II-positive neurons into nine clusters with different projection patterns. All clusters contain neurons with the fast-activating neurotransmitters acetylcholine and glutamate, while no Tc-foxQ2II-positive neuron is GABA-ergic or serotonin-positive. Interestingly, we found that many dopaminergic neurons were Tc-foxQ2II positive and homologize them with dopaminergic neurons of the PPL2c, PPM1, and PPL1 cluster described in the Drosophila brain. Our results show that Tc-foxQ2II marks subsets of fast-acting interneurons contributing to the higher-order brain centers mushroom bodies and central complex. Taken together, our work expands the known functional range of foxQ2 genes from sensory and neurosecretory cell specification to interneurons involved in the function of higher-order brain centers.
SN  - 2050-084X
ER  -