Distinct combinations of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate thermosensation and hygrosensation in Drosophila
- Brandeis University, United States
- University of Lausanne, Switzerland
- Harvard University, United States
- University of Miami, United States
Abstract
Ionotropic Receptors (IRs) are a large subfamily of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors present across Protostomia. While these receptors are most extensively studied for their roles in chemosensory detection, recent work has implicated two family members, IR21a and IR25a, in thermosensation in Drosophila. Here we characterize one of the most evolutionarily deeply conserved receptors, IR93a, and show that it is co-expressed and functions with IR21a and IR25a to mediate physiological and behavioral responses to cool temperatures. IR93a is also co-expressed with IR25a and a distinct receptor, IR40a, in a discrete population of sensory neurons in the sacculus, a multi-chambered pocket within the antenna. We demonstrate that this combination of receptors is required for neuronal responses to dry air and behavioral discrimination of humidity differences. Our results identify IR93a as a common component of molecularly and cellularly distinct IR pathways important for thermosensation and hygrosensation in insects.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (F31 DC015155 01A1)
- Zachary A Knecht
National Institutes of Health (F32 NS077835)
- Mason Klein
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (PhD Fellowship)
- Rati Bell
European Research Council (Starting Independent Researcher Grant 205202)
- Richard Benton
European Research Council (Consolidator Grant 915094)
- Richard Benton
National Institutes of Health (F32 GM113318)
- Gonzalo Budelli
National Institutes of Health (P01 GM103770)
- Aravinthan DT Samuel
- Paul A Garrity
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2016, Knecht et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 4,350
- views
-
- 919
- downloads
-
- 189
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Distinct combinations of variant ionotropic glutamate receptors mediate thermosensation and hygrosensation in Drosophila
eLife 5:e17879.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17879
Further reading
-
- Neuroscience
This work proposes µGUIDE: a general Bayesian framework to estimate posterior distributions of tissue microstructure parameters from any given biophysical model or signal representation, with exemplar demonstration in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Harnessing a new deep learning architecture for automatic signal feature selection combined with simulation-based inference and efficient sampling of the posterior distributions, µGUIDE bypasses the high computational and time cost of conventional Bayesian approaches and does not rely on acquisition constraints to define model-specific summary statistics. The obtained posterior distributions allow to highlight degeneracies present in the model definition and quantify the uncertainty and ambiguity of the estimated parameters.
-
- Computational and Systems Biology
- Neuroscience
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is a key site where fear learning takes place through synaptic plasticity. Rodent research shows prominent low theta (~3–6 Hz), high theta (~6–12 Hz), and gamma (>30 Hz) rhythms in the BLA local field potential recordings. However, it is not understood what role these rhythms play in supporting the plasticity. Here, we create a biophysically detailed model of the BLA circuit to show that several classes of interneurons (PV, SOM, and VIP) in the BLA can be critically involved in producing the rhythms; these rhythms promote the formation of a dedicated fear circuit shaped through spike-timing-dependent plasticity. Each class of interneurons is necessary for the plasticity. We find that the low theta rhythm is a biomarker of successful fear conditioning. The model makes use of interneurons commonly found in the cortex and, hence, may apply to a wide variety of associative learning situations.
