Li Kun, Gong Zhefeng
Department of Neurobiology, Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of the Ministry of Health of China, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2017 Jun;33(3):317-322. doi: 10.1007/s12264-016-0087-9. Epub 2016 Dec 19.
Sensing environmental temperature is crucial for animal life. The model animal, Drosophila melanogaster, can be investigated with a large number of genetic tools, which have greatly facilitated studies of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of thermal sensing. At the molecular level, a group of proteins, including Transient Receptor Potential channels and ionotropic receptors, have been characterized as potential thermal sensors in both larval and adult Drosophila. At the cellular and circuit levels, peripheral and central thermosensory neurons have been identified. More interestingly, thermal information has been found to be specifically encoded by specific central neurons. In this short review, we mainly survey the progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of thermosensation and the neuronal mechanisms of thermal information processing in the brain of Drosophila. Other recent temperature-related findings such as its impact on neurosecretion and thermotactic behavior in Drosophila are also introduced.
感知环境温度对动物生存至关重要。模式动物黑腹果蝇可借助大量遗传工具进行研究，这极大地推动了对热感知细胞和分子机制的研究。在分子水平上，包括瞬时受体电位通道和离子型受体在内的一组蛋白质已被鉴定为幼虫和成年果蝇潜在的热传感器。在细胞和神经回路水平上，已识别出外周和中枢热感觉神经元。更有趣的是，发现热信息由特定的中枢神经元进行特异性编码。在这篇简短的综述中，我们主要概述了在理解果蝇大脑热感知分子机制和热信息处理神经机制方面取得的进展。还介绍了其他近期与温度相关的发现，如温度对果蝇神经分泌和热趋性的影响。
