AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Investigation of the role of Pyrexia and mushroom body neurons in long-term temperature preference of Drosophila melanogaster

by Sarah Shin




Institution: Brandeis University
Department:
Year: 2015
Record ID: 2059088
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10192/30471


Abstract

Temperature is one of the environmental factors that are necessary for organisms to be able to sense and respond to in order to avoid noxious thermal stimuli and maintain homeostasis. A subset of temperature-sensitive Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) family members, called ThermoTRPs, mediates thermosensation. The Drosophila orthologue of human TRPA1 is an innocuous warmth sensor that is required in the anterior cell (AC) neurons to allow flies to find a preferred temperature in the long-term. Pyrexia is another ThermoTRP that has been shown to send thermosensory signals to the AC neurons. I examined the long-term thermal behavior of double mutants that lack both TRPA1 and Pyrexia. In addition, I investigated mushroom body neurons for their involvement in mediating temperature preference.