title: A novel thermosensitive escape behavior in Drosophila larvae.
abstract: We describe a novel thermosensitive escape behavior in Drosophila larvae and a simple assay to accurately define the response temperature. When a larva is placed in a droplet of water that is subsequently heated, a stereotypical escape response is robustly elicited at 29°C. Larvae defective for the painless TRP receptor, or blocked in the function of class IV multi-dendritic sensory dendrites respond to this stimulus at reproducibly higher temperature (34°C). The escape response has novel behavioral components and a lower temperature threshold in comparison with the responses to touch with a hot needle. Furthermore the assay minimizes operator bias that is present in current tests of thermosensitive nociception and generates a precise determination of temperature at the point of response. This response is highly reproducible and directly applicable to genetic and neural circuit analysis of a simple escape behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and Hull-York Medical School, University of York, York, England UK.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.forename: Beata
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rymarczyk
authors.forename: Alastair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chatters
authors.forename: Sean T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Sweeney
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004924:Escape Reaction; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000235:genetics; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D013696:Temperature; D013697:Thermosensing
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; C474592:pain protein, Drosophila