Nociceptive Neurons Protect Drosophila Larvae from Parasitoid Wasps

Abstract

The class IV multidendritic neurons of Drosophila larvae are nociceptive. The nociception behavior of Drosophila melanagaster larvae includes an innately encoded directional preference. Nociception behavior is elicited by the ecologically relevant sensory stimulus of parasitoid wasp attack.

Drosophila Shep and C. elegans SUP-26 are RNA-binding proteins that play diverse roles in nervous system development

“…Adjacent Class IV da neurons occupy non-overlapping territories and arbors within each neuron exhibit self-avoidance (Grueber et al 2002;Grueber et al 2003). Class IV da neurons are nociceptive sensory neurons dedicated to sensing noxious thermal and mechanical stimuli and mediate an escape response from noxious stimuli (Tracey et al 2003;Hwang et al 2007). During a qualitative screen using Class IV da neuronspecific RNAi, we previously noted that knockdown of shep results in aberrant formation of the dendritic tree (Olesnicky et al 2014; Fig.…”

Why flies? Inexpensive public engagement exercises to explain the value of basic biomedical research on Drosophila melanogaster

“…For this purpose, the blue light-gated ion channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) (25,35) was expressed in two different sets of neurons using the Gal4-UAS system (5). We used two different Gal4 driver lines to express ChR2: elav-Gal4 resulted in pan-neuronal expression of the UAS-ChR2 transgene, whereas pickpocket (ppk)-Gal4 led to ChR2 expression in a subset of "nociceptive" neurons that sense noxious stimuli and mediate escape responses (17). Participants first observed how these two different genotypes (as well as wild-type animals) crawled over an agar surface in the absence of blue light.…”

Drosophila Neurobiology: No Escape from ‘Big Data’ Science

“…The different classes of Md neurons tile the surface of the larval cuticle and play key roles in sensing distinct types of stimuli in the environment of the larva [13,14]. While nocifensive behaviors require class IV neurons [1,2], gentle touch is sensed through a different class of tiling neurons and triggers crawling and turning [14]. Vibrations are perceived by yet another set of so-called R606 Current Biology 25, R600-R620, July 20, 2015 ª2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved…”

“…Some parasitoid wasp species have evolved the fascinating reproductive strategy of attacking Drosophila larvae: with their sharp ovipositor, the wasps pierce the fly larva's thick cuticle to lay an egg inside; if successful, the developing wasp larva will consume its prey and eventually a new wasp will emerge rather than a fly [1,2]. To defend itself against this lethal reproductive strategy and avoid being eaten alive, Drosophila has evolved a number of clever defense mechanisms [3].…”

“…Paradoxically, the larvae roll in the direction of the wasp ovipositor, decreasing the chance of a successful oviposition [2]. In recent years, this intriguing locomotor response has been gradually dissected at the neuronal and molecular level using the growing number of tools available in the fly [1,2,[4][5][6][7]. These studies have shown that a specific class of dendritic arborization (da) neurons, also called multidendritic (Md) neurons [8][9][10][11][12] is necessary and sufficient for the rolling response [1,2].…”