Composition of agarose substrate affects behavioral output of Drosophila larvae
Composition of agarose substrate affects behavioral output of Drosophila larvae
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DOI：
10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00011
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发表时间：
2014-01-28
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Thum, Andreas S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Apostolopoulou, Anthi A.;Hersperger, Fabian;Thum, Andreas S.
在过去的十年里，果蝇幼虫已经进化成一个简单的模式生物，提供了将分子遗传学与系统神经科学相结合的机会。这导致了对许多感觉功能和行为的神经元网络的详细理解，包括嗅觉，视觉，味觉以及学习和记忆。通常，使用中的行为测定利用简单的培养皿设置，琼脂糖或琼脂作为底物。然而，在这些实验中，底物的质量和浓度通常都没有标准化，也没有关于幼虫行为如何受到这些不同底物影响的数据。在这里，我们研究了不同浓度的琼脂糖对几种幼虫行为的影响。我们证明，琼脂糖浓度是一个重要的参数，它影响所有的行为测试：偏好，进食，学习和运动。幼虫可以区分不同的琼脂糖浓度，它们以不同的方式进食，它们可以学会将琼脂糖浓度与气味刺激联系起来，并在更高琼脂糖浓度的底物上改变运动。此外，我们还研究了琼脂糖浓度对三种基于奎宁的行为的影响：偏好、进食和学习。我们发现，在所有情况下，检查行为输出的变化在琼脂糖浓度依赖性的方式。我们的研究结果表明，在琼脂糖浓度不同的基板上进行的实验之间的比较应谨慎进行。应该考虑的是，琼脂糖浓度可能会影响行为输出，从而影响实验结果本身，这可能是由于逃逸反应的启动或在更刚性的底物上觅食行为的变化。
In the last decade the Drosophila larva has evolved into a simple model organism offering the opportunity to integrate molecular genetics with systems neuroscience. This led to a detailed understanding of the neuronal networks for a number of sensory functions and behaviors including olfaction, vision, gustation and learning and memory. Typically, behavioral assays in use exploit simple Petri dish setups with either agarose or agar as a substrate. However, neither the quality nor the concentration of the substrate is generally standardized across these experiments and there is no data available on how larval behavior is affected by such different substrates. Here, we have investigated the effects of different agarose concentrations on several larval behaviors. We demonstrate that agarose concentration is an important parameter, which affects all behaviors tested: preference, feeding, learning and locomotion. Larvae can discriminate between different agarose concentrations, they feed differently on them, they can learn to associate an agarose concentration with an odor stimulus and change locomotion on a substrate of higher agarose concentration. Additionally, we have investigated the effect of agarose concentration on three quinine based behaviors: preference, feeding and learning. We show that in all cases examined the behavioral output changes in an agarose concentration-dependent manner. Our results suggest that comparisons between experiments performed on substrates differing in agarose concentration should be done with caution. It should be taken into consideration that the agarose concentration can affect the behavioral output and thereby the experimental outcomes per se potentially due to the initiation of an escape response or changes in foraging behavior on more rigid substrates.