School of Neuroscience, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2022 Jun 1;225(11). doi: 10.1242/jeb.243708. Epub 2022 May 31.
Temperature is a critical environmental variable that affects the distribution, survival and reproduction of most animals. Although temperature receptors have been identified in many animals, how these receptors respond to temperature is still unclear. Here, we describe an automated tracking method for studying the thermotactic behaviors of Drosophila larvae and adults. We built optimal experimental setups to capture behavioral recordings and analyzed them using free software, Fiji and TrackMate, which do not require programming knowledge. Then, we applied the adult thermotactic two-choice assay to examine the movement and temperature preferences of nine Drosophila species. The ability or inclination to move varied among these species and at different temperatures. Distinct species preferred various ranges of temperatures. Wild-type D. melanogaster flies avoided the warmer temperature in the warm avoidance assay and the cooler temperature in the cool avoidance assay. Conversely, D. bipectinata and D. yakuba did not avoid warm or cool temperatures in the respective assays, and D. biarmipes and D. mojavensis did not avoid the warm temperature in the warm avoidance assay. These results demonstrate that Drosophila species have different mobilities and temperature preferences, which will benefit further research in exploring molecular mechanisms of temperature responsiveness.
温度是影响大多数动物分布、生存和繁殖的关键环境变量。尽管已经在许多动物中鉴定出温度感受器，但这些感受器如何响应温度仍不清楚。在这里，我们描述了一种自动跟踪方法，用于研究果蝇幼虫和成虫的趋温行为。我们构建了最佳的实验设置来捕获行为记录，并使用免费软件 Fiji 和 TrackMate 对其进行分析，这些软件不需要编程知识。然后，我们应用成年趋热双选择测定法来研究九种果蝇物种的运动和温度偏好。这些物种在不同温度下的运动能力或倾向存在差异。不同的物种偏好不同范围的温度。野生型黑腹果蝇在避热测定和避冷测定中都不喜欢较暖的温度。相反，双斑按蚊和黑缘果蝇在各自的测定中都不回避较暖或较冷的温度，而双翅目果蝇和莫哈韦果蝇在避热测定中不回避较暖的温度。这些结果表明，果蝇物种具有不同的运动能力和温度偏好，这将有助于进一步研究探索温度反应的分子机制。
