Drosophila TRPA1 controls thermotactic behavior

Temperature perception is an intricate process, essential for survival of many organisms. Temperatures far outside of the preferred range are usually harmful and are perceived as noxious (or painful), thus encouraging the animal to change its location or behavior. However, animals also have mechanisms to perceive more moderate, innocuous temperatures. Some animals exhibit clear directed movements in response to changes in temperature, a behavior known as thermotaxis. Thermotactic behavior has been most intensely studied in the nematode C. elegans, and a number of neurons and molecules that mediate thermotaxis in C. elegans have been identified. However, molecular mechanisms of temperature perception in general, and thermotaxis in particular, are still poorly understood. Drosophila melanogaster also exhibits strong temperature preferences and robust thermotactic behaviors, although the molecular mechanisms that mediate thermotaxis in Drosophila were unknown. We used a reverse genetic RNA interference (RNAi)-based strategy to identify Drosophila TRPA1 as a key regulator of thermotaxis. Larvae in which dTRPA1 expression has been knocked down with RNAi fail to avoid regions of moderately elevated temperature (~310C--350C).

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Biology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Rosenzweig, Mark, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Paul Garrity.

• Biology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34581

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34581