Larval nociception behavior in Drosophila.
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1
Duke University Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Department of Neurobiology, Department of Cell Biology, United States
The Drosophila larva produces highly stereotyped nocifensive escape locomotion (NEL) in response to noxious heat, mechanical or chemical stimuli. When NEL is triggered by one of these stimuli, the larvae corkscrew, vigorously rotating around the anterior-posterior body axis. In the wild, Drosophila melanogaster larvae are afflicted by several species of parasitoid wasps. The parasitoid wasps use a sharp ovipositor to lay their eggs inside of Drosophila larvae. Two days after oviposition the egg hatches and the wasp larva begins to consume the Drosophila larva from the inside, eventually emerging from the Drosophila pupal case as an adult. A successful wasp attack is fatal; therefore, Drosophila larvae have evolved behavioral responses to defend themselves. Consistent with this, NEL behavior is also triggered by parasitoid wasp attack.
In order to uncover the molecular mechanisms of pain signaling we have used this behavioral output to perform forward genetic screens to identify mutants that are defective in behavioral responses to noxious heat or mechanical stimuli. We have found genes such as painless, dTRPA1 and pickpocket to be important evolutionarily conserved players in insect nociception. In addition, using the genetic tools available to Drosophila we have identified the nociceptor neurons that innervate the larval body wall. Silencing of these neurons, termed multidendritic neurons, severely impairs the behavorial responses to noxious heat and mechanical stimule. Furthermore, activation of a specific subset of multidendritic neurons (Class IV) using optogenetics is sufficient to trigger NEL behavior.
Keywords:
DEG/ENaC Channel,
Drosophila,
Leptopilina,
Nociception,
optogenetics,
TRP Channel
Conference:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Invited Symposium (only for people who have been invited to a particular symposium)
Topic:
Genes and Behavior
Citation:
Tracey
D
(2012). Larval nociception behavior in Drosophila..
Conference Abstract:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00055
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Received:
02 May 2012;
Published Online:
07 Jul 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Dan Tracey, Duke University Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Department of Neurobiology, Department of Cell Biology, Durham, NC, 27710, United States, dan.tracey@duke.edu