Molecular profiling of invertebrate glia

Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster are powerful experimental models for uncovering fundamental tenets of nervous system organization and function. Findings over the last two decades show that molecular and cellular features are broadly conserved between invertebrates and vertebrates, indicating that insights derived from invertebrate models can broadly inform our understanding of glial operating principles across diverse species. In recent years, these model systems have led to exciting discoveries in glial biology and mechanisms of glia-neuron interactions. Here, we summarize studies that have applied current state-of-the-art "-omics" techniques to C. elegans and D. melanogaster glia. Coupled with the remarkable acceleration in the pace of mechanistic studies of glia biology in recent years, these indicate that invertebrate glia also exhibit striking molecular complexity, specificity, and heterogeneity. We provide an overview of these studies and discuss their implications as well as emerging questions where C. elegans and D. melanogaster are well-poised to fill critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of glial biology.