Chen Yu-Chieh David, Park Scarlet Jinhong, Ja William W, Dahanukar Anupama
Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.
Department of Neuroscience, The Scripps Research Institute, Jupiter, FL, United States.
Front Cell Neurosci. 2018 Oct 24;12:382. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2018.00382. eCollection 2018.
In , () is a member of the Paired box (Pax) gene family that encodes transcription factors with characteristic paired DNA-binding domains. During embryonic development, is expressed in sensory organ precursor (SOP) cells of poly-innervated external sensory (p-es) organs and is important for specifying p-es organ identity (chemosensory) as opposed to mono-innervated external sensory (m-es) organs (mechanosensory). In mutants, there is a transformation of chemosensory bristles into mechanosensory bristles. As a result, these mutants have often been considered to be entirely taste-blind, and researchers have used them in this capacity to investigate physiological and behavioral functions that act in a taste-independent manner. However, recent studies show that only external taste bristles are transformed in mutants whereas all internal pharyngeal taste neurons remain intact, raising concerns about interpretations of experimental results using mutants as taste-blind flies. In this review, we summarize the value of mutants in advancing our knowledge of taste-enriched genes and feeding behaviors, and encourage revisiting some of the conclusions about taste-independent nutrient-sensing mechanisms derived from these mutants. Lastly, we highlight that mutant flies remain a valuable tool for probing the function of the relatively understudied pharyngeal taste neurons in sensing meal properties and regulating feeding behaviors.
在[具体果蝇种类]中，[基因名称]是配对盒（Pax）基因家族的成员，该家族编码具有特征性配对DNA结合结构域的转录因子。在胚胎发育过程中，[基因名称]在多神经支配的外部感觉（p-es）器官的感觉器官前体（SOP）细胞中表达，对于确定p-es器官（化学感觉）而非单神经支配的外部感觉（m-es）器官（机械感觉）的身份很重要。在[基因名称]突变体中，化学感觉刚毛会转变为机械感觉刚毛。因此，这些突变体常被认为完全没有味觉，研究人员也以此身份用它们来研究以与味觉无关的方式起作用的生理和行为功能。然而，最近的研究表明，在[基因名称]突变体中只有外部味觉刚毛发生转变，而所有内部咽味觉神经元保持完整，这引发了对将[基因名称]突变体用作无味觉果蝇来解释实验结果的担忧。在这篇综述中，我们总结了[基因名称]突变体在增进我们对富含味觉基因和进食行为的了解方面的价值，并鼓励重新审视一些从这些突变体得出的关于与味觉无关的营养感应机制的结论。最后，我们强调[基因名称]突变体果蝇仍然是一个有价值的工具，可用于探究相对研究较少的咽味觉神经元在感知食物特性和调节进食行为中的功能。
