The Drosophila ortholog of vertebrate TRPA1 regulates thermotaxis

  1. Mark Rosenzweig1,
  2. Karen M. Brennan1,
  3. Timothy D. Tayler1,
  4. Paul O. Phelps1,
  5. Ardem Patapoutian2,3, and
  6. Paul A. Garrity1,4
  1. 1Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA; 2Department of Cell Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA; 3Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, San Diego, California 92121, USA

Abstract

Thermotaxis is important for animal survival, but the molecular identities of temperature sensors controlling this behavior have not been determined. We demonstrate dTRPA1, a heat-activated Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) family ion channel, is essential for thermotaxis in Drosophila. dTrpA1 knockdown eliminates avoidance of elevated temperatures along a thermal gradient. We observe dTRPA1 expression in cells without previously ascribed roles in thermosensation and implicate dTRPA1-expressing neurons in mediating thermotaxis. Our data suggest that thermotaxis relies upon neurons and molecules distinct from those required for high-temperature nociception. We propose dTRPA1 may control thermotaxis by sensing environmental temperature.

Keywords

Footnotes

  • Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

  • Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1278205.

  • 4 Corresponding author.

    4 E-MAIL pgarrity{at}mit.edu; FAX (617) 258-3128.

    • Accepted December 21, 2004.
    • Received November 3, 2004.
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