Centrophobism/thigmotaxis, a new role for the mushroom bodies in Drosophila. - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Neurobiology Année : 2005

Centrophobism/thigmotaxis, a new role for the mushroom bodies in Drosophila.

Résumé

Insects, like vertebrates, exhibit spatially complex locomotor activity patterns when foraging or navigating. Open field studies recently showed that Drosophila avoids central zones and stays at the periphery, an effect that can be interpreted as centrophobism and/or thigmotaxis. In this study, we further characterized this phenomenon and studied the responsible underlying neural mechanisms. The implication of the Drosophila mushroom bodies (MBs) in olfactory learning and memory processes is well documented. In an open field situation in which fly locomotor activity is recorded by video tracking, we show that center avoidance is greatly diminished in flies with hydroxyurea-ablated MBs, suggesting a new role for these structures. Furthermore, the temperature-sensitive allele of the dynamin gene shibire was expressed in various enhancer-trap P[GAL4] lines, disrupting synaptic transmission in different MB lobes. Specifically blocking the gamma lobes alters centrophobism/thigmotaxis while blocking the alpha/beta lobes does not, suggesting a functional specialization of MB lobes. Drosophila may serve as a new model system for elucidating the genetic and neural bases of such complex phenomena as centrophobism/thigmotaxis.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

hal-00140203 , version 1 (05-04-2007)

Identifiants

Citer

Morgane Besson, Jean-Rene Martin. Centrophobism/thigmotaxis, a new role for the mushroom bodies in Drosophila.. Journal of Neurobiology, 2005, 62 (3), pp.386-396. ⟨10.1002/neu.20111⟩. ⟨hal-00140203⟩
146 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More