Publication Date:
2013-08-09
Description:
Behavioural responses to temperature are critical for survival, and animals from insects to humans show strong preferences for specific temperatures. Preferred temperature selection promotes avoidance of adverse thermal environments in the short term and maintenance of optimal body temperatures over the long term, but its molecular and cellular basis is largely unknown. Recent studies have generated conflicting views of thermal preference in Drosophila, attributing importance to either internal or peripheral warmth sensors. Here we reconcile these views by showing that thermal preference is not a singular response, but involves multiple systems relevant in different contexts. We found previously that the transient receptor potential channel TRPA1 acts internally to control the slowly developing preference response of flies exposed to a shallow thermal gradient. We now find that the rapid response of flies exposed to a steep warmth gradient does not require TRPA1; rather, the gustatory receptor GR28B(D) drives this behaviour through peripheral thermosensors. Gustatory receptors are a large gene family, widely studied in insect gustation and olfaction, and are implicated in host-seeking by insect disease vectors, but have not previously been implicated in thermosensation. At the molecular level, GR28B(D) misexpression confers thermosensitivity upon diverse cell types, suggesting that it is a warmth sensor. These data reveal a new type of thermosensory molecule and uncover a functional distinction between peripheral and internal warmth sensors in this tiny ectotherm reminiscent of thermoregulatory systems in larger, endothermic animals. The use of multiple, distinct molecules to respond to a given temperature, as observed here, may facilitate independent tuning of an animal's distinct thermosensory responses.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758369/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉 〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758369/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Ni, Lina -- Bronk, Peter -- Chang, Elaine C -- Lowell, April M -- Flam, Juliette O -- Panzano, Vincent C -- Theobald, Douglas L -- Griffith, Leslie C -- Garrity, Paul A -- P01 GM103770/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- P01 NS044232/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM054408/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM094468/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM096053/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH067284/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01 MH094721/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ -- R01GM094468/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- T32 GM007122/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- England -- Nature. 2013 Aug 29;500(7464):580-4. doi: 10.1038/nature12390. Epub 2013 Aug 7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉National Center for Behavioral Genomics, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts 02454, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23925112" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Avoidance Learning/*physiology
;
Drosophila Proteins/deficiency/genetics/*metabolism
;
Drosophila melanogaster/genetics/*physiology
;
Female
;
*Hot Temperature
;
Receptors, Cell Surface/genetics/*metabolism
;
Signal Transduction
;
Smell
;
TRPC Cation Channels/deficiency/genetics/metabolism
;
*Taste
;
Thermoreceptors/cytology/physiology
;
Thermosensing/genetics/*physiology
;
Time Factors
Print ISSN:
0028-0836
Electronic ISSN:
1476-4687
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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