title: TrpA1 regulates thermal nociception in Drosophila.
abstract: Pain is a significant medical concern and represents a major unmet clinical need. The ability to perceive and react to tissue-damaging stimuli is essential in order to maintain bodily integrity in the face of environmental danger. To prevent damage the systems that detect noxious stimuli are therefore under strict evolutionary pressure. We developed a high-throughput behavioral method to identify genes contributing to thermal nociception in the fruit fly and have reported a large-scale screen that identified the Ca²⁺ channel straightjacket (stj) as a conserved regulator of thermal nociception. Here we present the minimal anatomical and neuronal requirements for Drosophila to avoid noxious heat in our novel behavioral paradigm. Bioinformatics analysis of our whole genome data set revealed 23 genes implicated in Ca²⁺ signaling that are required for noxious heat avoidance. One of these genes, the conserved thermoreceptor TrpA1, was confirmed as a bona fide "pain" gene in both adult and larval fly nociception paradigms. The nociceptive function of TrpA1 required expression within the Drosophila nervous system, specifically within nociceptive multi-dendritic (MD) sensory neurons. Therefore, our analysis identifies the channel TRPA1 as a conserved regulator of nociception.
authors: Neuroscience Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. g.neely@garvan.org.au
authors: G Gregory
authors: GG
authors: Neely
authors: Alex C
authors: AC
authors: Keene
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Duchek
authors: Elaine C
authors: EC
authors: Chang
authors: Qiao-Ping
authors: QP
authors: Wang
authors: Yagiz Alp
authors: YA
authors: Aksoy
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Rosenzweig
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Costigan
authors: Clifford J
authors: CJ
authors: Woolf
authors: Paul A
authors: PA
authors: Garrity
authors: Josef M
authors: JM
authors: Penninger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000378:metabolism; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000235:genetics; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva / Q000378:metabolism; D059225:Nociception / Q000502:physiology*; D000074025:TRPA1 Cation Channel; D050052:TRPC Cation Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; D000074025:TRPA1 Cation Channel; D050052:TRPC Cation Channels; C475684:TrpA1 protein, Drosophila; C474592:pain protein, Drosophila