Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution
Arsenic is an ubiquitous environmental toxicant with harmful physiological effects, including neurotoxicity. Modulation of arsenic-induced gene expression in the brain cannot be readily studied in human subjects. However, Drosophila allows quantification of transcriptional responses to neurotoxins a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Toxicology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1636431/full |
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| author | Anurag Chaturvedi Vijay Shankar Bibhu Simkhada Rachel A. Lyman Patrick Freymuth Elisabeth Howansky Katelynne M. Collins Trudy F. C. Mackay Robert R. H. Anholt |
| author_facet | Anurag Chaturvedi Vijay Shankar Bibhu Simkhada Rachel A. Lyman Patrick Freymuth Elisabeth Howansky Katelynne M. Collins Trudy F. C. Mackay Robert R. H. Anholt |
| author_sort | Anurag Chaturvedi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Arsenic is an ubiquitous environmental toxicant with harmful physiological effects, including neurotoxicity. Modulation of arsenic-induced gene expression in the brain cannot be readily studied in human subjects. However, Drosophila allows quantification of transcriptional responses to neurotoxins at single cell resolution across the entire brain in a single analysis. We exposed Drosophila melanogaster to a chronic dose of NaAsO2 that does not cause rapid lethality and measured survival and negative geotaxis as a proxy of sensorimotor integration. Females survive longer than males but show earlier physiological impairment in climbing ability. Single-nuclei RNA sequencing showed widespread sex-antagonistic transcriptional responses with modulation of gene expression in females biased toward neuronal cell populations and in males toward glial cells. However, differentially expressed genes implicate similar biological pathways. Evolutionary conservation of fundamental processes of the nervous system enabled us to translate arsenic-induced changes in transcript abundances from the Drosophila model to orthologous human neurogenetic networks. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2e66e6ea2deb478987871eef7c1e585b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2673-3080 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Toxicology |
| spelling | doaj-art-2e66e6ea2deb478987871eef7c1e585b2025-08-20T03:28:55ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Toxicology2673-30802025-07-01710.3389/ftox.2025.16364311636431Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolutionAnurag ChaturvediVijay ShankarBibhu SimkhadaRachel A. LymanPatrick FreymuthElisabeth HowanskyKatelynne M. CollinsTrudy F. C. MackayRobert R. H. AnholtArsenic is an ubiquitous environmental toxicant with harmful physiological effects, including neurotoxicity. Modulation of arsenic-induced gene expression in the brain cannot be readily studied in human subjects. However, Drosophila allows quantification of transcriptional responses to neurotoxins at single cell resolution across the entire brain in a single analysis. We exposed Drosophila melanogaster to a chronic dose of NaAsO2 that does not cause rapid lethality and measured survival and negative geotaxis as a proxy of sensorimotor integration. Females survive longer than males but show earlier physiological impairment in climbing ability. Single-nuclei RNA sequencing showed widespread sex-antagonistic transcriptional responses with modulation of gene expression in females biased toward neuronal cell populations and in males toward glial cells. However, differentially expressed genes implicate similar biological pathways. Evolutionary conservation of fundamental processes of the nervous system enabled us to translate arsenic-induced changes in transcript abundances from the Drosophila model to orthologous human neurogenetic networks.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1636431/fullneurotoxicitysingle cell RNA sequencingbehavioral geneticssexual dimorphismgenetic networks |
| spellingShingle | Anurag Chaturvedi Vijay Shankar Bibhu Simkhada Rachel A. Lyman Patrick Freymuth Elisabeth Howansky Katelynne M. Collins Trudy F. C. Mackay Robert R. H. Anholt Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution Frontiers in Toxicology neurotoxicity single cell RNA sequencing behavioral genetics sexual dimorphism genetic networks |
| title | Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| title_full | Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| title_fullStr | Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| title_short | Arsenic toxicity in the Drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| title_sort | arsenic toxicity in the drosophila brain at single cell resolution |
| topic | neurotoxicity single cell RNA sequencing behavioral genetics sexual dimorphism genetic networks |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ftox.2025.1636431/full |
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