Distinct TRP channels are required for warm and cool avoidance in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: The ability to sense and respond to subtle variations in environmental temperature is critical for animal survival. Animals avoid temperatures that are too cold or too warm and seek out temperatures favorable for their survival. At the molecular level, members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of cation channels contribute to thermosensory behaviors in animals from flies to humans. In Drosophila melanogaster larvae, avoidance of excessively warm temperatures is known to require the TRP protein dTRPA1. Whether larval avoidance of excessively cool temperatures also requires TRP channel function, and whether warm and cool avoidance use the same or distinct TRP channels has been unknown. Here we identify two TRP channels required for cool avoidance, TRPL and TRP. Although TRPL a

SUBMITTER: Rosenzweig M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2567170 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature