dTRPA1 Modulates Afternoon Peak of Activity of Fruit Flies Drosophila melanogaster

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134213
• Publication Date: 2015-07-30T18:13:22Z
• Authors: Antara Das; Todd C. Holmes; Vasu Sheeba
• Keywords: Darkness; Wild type

Daily rhythms in Drosophila under semi-natural conditions (or SN) have received much recent attention. One of the striking differences behaviour wild type flies SN is presence an additional peak activity middle day. This referred to as afternoon (A-peak) and absent standard laboratory regimes using gated light temperature cues. Although previous reports identified physical factors that contribute towards A-peak there no evidence for underlying molecular mechanisms or pathways control A-peak. We report mediated by thermosensitive dTRPA1 (drosophila Transient Receptor Potential- A1) ion channels this null mutants. Further, when natural cycles are simulated lab, we find amplitude dTRPA1-dependent. a few circadian neurons express dTRPA1, show modulation primarily influenced non-CRY expressing neurons. Hence, propose observed sensitive response elicited through receptor signalling.