A Circuit Encoding Absolute Cold Temperature in Drosophila
A Circuit Encoding Absolute Cold Temperature in Drosophila
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.038
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发表时间：
2020-06-22
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Gallio, Marco
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alpert, Michael H.;Frank, Dominic D.;Gallio, Marco
Animals react to environmental changes over timescales ranging from seconds to days and weeks. An important question is how sensory stimuli are parsed into neural signals operating over such diverse temporal scales. Here, we uncover a specialized circuit, from sensory neurons to higher brain centers, that processes information about long-lasting, absolute cold temperature in Drosophila. We identify second-order thermosensory projection neurons (TPN-IIs) exhibiting sustained firing that scales with absolute temperature. Strikingly, this activity only appears below the species-specific, preferred temperature for D. melanogaster (similar to 25 degrees C). We trace the inputs and outputs of TPN-IIs and find that they are embedded in a cold "thermometer'' circuit that provides powerful and persistent inhibition to brain centers involved in regulating sleep and activity. Our results demonstrate that the fly nervous system selectively encodes and relays absolute temperature information and illustrate a sensory mechanism that allows animals to adapt behavior specifically to cold conditions on the timescale of hours to days.
