Here, we conducted a comprehensive screen for Drosophila TRP channels that enable larvae to choose their optimal temperature of 17.5☌ over mildly cooler temperatures (14−16☌). In addition, two TRPC channels, TRP and TRPL have been reported to be involved in choosing the preferred temperature over slightly cooler temperatures ( Rosenzweig et al., 2008). We have shown recently that Drosophila larvae are sensitive to small deviations from their preferred temperature of ∼17.5−18☌, and TRPA1 is critical for enabling larvae to select these optimal temperatures over slightly warmer temperatures (≤24☌) ( Kwon et al., 2008). In Drosophila three TRP channels participate in the responses to warm or hot temperatures in the noxious range ( Tracey et al., 2003 Lee et al., 2005 Rosenzweig et al., 2005 Hamada et al., 2008). These proteins are global mediators of sensory input and thereby control a variety of animal behaviors. However, the molecular and cellular bases by which animals survey their thermal landscapes and decide on how to respond behaviorally to different temperature alternatives are incompletely understood.Ī key class of temperature sensors is an evolutionarily conserved set of cation channels, referred to as transient receptor potential (TRP) channels ( Venkatachalam and Montell, 2007). We conclude that the decision to select the preferred over slightly cooler temperatures requires iav and is achieved by activating chordotonal neurons, which in turn induces repulsive behaviors, due to an increase in high angle turns.Īnimals are capable of discerning small differences above and below their preferred ambient temperature, and this ability is especially important for organisms, such as insects, whose internal body temperature rapidly equilibrates with the environmental temperature. The impairment in selecting 17.5☌ resulted from absence of an avoidance response, which is normally mediated by an increase in turns at the lower temperatures. Mutations affecting a transient receptor potential (TRP) vanilloid channel, Inactive (Iav), which is expressed specifically in chordotonal neurons, eliminated the ability to choose 17.5☌ over 14−16☌. Here, we demonstrate that Drosophila larvae choose their preferred temperature of 17.5☌ over slightly cooler temperatures (14−16☌) through activation of chordotonal neurons. This behavior is critical as small differences in temperature of only several degrees can have a profound effect on the survival and rate of development of poikilothermic animals, such as the fruit fly. Animals select their optimal environmental temperature, even when faced with alternatives that differ only slightly.
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