Molecular basis of adaptation in a chemosensory system

项目摘要 该项目的长期目标是在分子和细胞水平上阐明化学感受性是如何 系统的运作和进化是为了产生适应新环境的新行为。它侧重 关于生物学中最古老和最基本的问题之一：感觉系统如何适应， 生物体开发新环境。 Suzukii果蝇提供了一个极好的机会来破译化学感受机制， 促成了其独特的产卵行为。而其他种类的果蝇在发酵的水果中产卵 没有价值，D。铃木虫在成熟的果实中产卵，毁坏庄稼。苍蝇的产卵偏好很大程度上 在品味上。这个建议利用了丰富的知识，味觉的机制，在D。 黑腹菌我们的目的是阐明这些机制在D.铃木产生的偏好 成熟的水果而不是过熟的水果 第一个目标是对候选人的表达和功能要求进行严格的分析 基因在雌蛾产卵迁移中的作用。铃木。该实验计划旨在验证关于分子 探讨了D.铃木。 第二个目标将提供一个严格的分析候选基因在产卵偏好的作用 用于个体候选产卵线索。建议的实验旨在确定关键产卵 线索，测试他们的行为，并检查候选基因的产卵偏好的作用。 第三个目标利用了电生理学的最新进展， 味觉系统是如何在细胞水平上进化的。它将阐明细胞基础的重大转变， 产卵行为具有巨大的经济意义。它可能破译味觉编码的分子逻辑 复杂的自然刺激。 了解化学感受系统如何运作和进化的进展可能会导致新的手段 控制农业害虫和人类疾病的昆虫媒介，这些疾病折磨着数亿人， 每年.

Project Summary The long-term goal of this project is to elucidate at the molecular and cellular levels how chemosensory systems function and evolve so as to generate new behaviors that are adaptive to new environments. It focuses on one of the most ancient and fundamental problems in biology: how sensory systems adapt to allow an organism to exploit a new environment. Drosophila suzukii provides an excellent opportunity to decipher chemosensory mechanisms that have contributed to its unique oviposition behavior. Whereas other species of Drosophila lay eggs in fermenting fruit of no value, D. suzukii lays eggs in ripe fruit, ruining crops. The oviposition preferences of flies are based largely on taste. This proposal takes advantage of the wealth of knowledge about the mechanisms of taste in D. melanogaster. We aim to elucidate how these mechanisms have changed in D. suzukii to produce a preference for ripe, as opposed to overripe, fruits. The first aim will provide a rigorous analysis of the expression and functional requirements of candidate genes in the oviposition shift of D. suzukii. The experimental plan is designed to test hypotheses as to molecular mechanisms underlying the oviposition shift of D. suzukii. The second aim will provide a rigorous analysis of the role of candidate genes in oviposition preference for individual candidate oviposition cues. The proposed experiments are designed to identify key oviposition cues, to test them behaviorally, and to examine the role of candidate genes in the oviposition preference to them. The third aim takes advantage of a recent advance in electrophysiology that allows an unprecedented view of how a taste system has evolved at the cellular level. It will elucidate the cellular basis of a major shift in oviposition behavior that has immense economic implications. It may decipher the molecular logic of taste coding of a complex natural stimulus. Advances in understanding how the chemosensory systems function and evolve may lead to new means of controlling agricultural pests and insect vectors of human diseases, which afflict hundreds of millions of people each year.