Analysis of Chemosensory Receptor Genes

描述(申请人提供)：这个项目的长期目标是解释化学信号被编码的逻辑，并阐明编码它们的神经元的组织和发展的基本原理。该实验计划利用果蝇黑腹果蝇作为模型系统，允许对化学感觉基因进行深入的分子遗传分析，以及对化学感觉功能进行生理和行为分析。该项目研究了一个由30个预测的化学受体基因组成的新家族，IR20a家族，其表达和功能完全未知。第一个目标是将这些基因定位到成年苍蝇化学感受器的神经元上，并检查它们在中枢神经系统中的投射。其目的是解决感觉生物学中的一个主要问题：感觉系统如何整合最终转化为行为反应的多个输入。这一目标的一个可能结果是，它将支持IR20a家族作为一个主要的无脊椎动物味觉受体家族的身份。第二个目标是在幼虫阶段产生受体到神经元的映射。这些受体相互之间以及与其他类别的化学受体的共表达将被分析。它们的发育概况和在神经元中表达的细胞位置将被确定。这一目标有望支持这些受体作为一个主要的新的幼虫味觉受体家族的身份。第三个目的是直接测试这些受体的功能。关于化学接收和神经元发育的假设将通过生理和行为测量以及神经元形态和投射的检查来检验。将对它们在调节摄食方面扮演双重角色的模型进行测试。喂养调节的分子和细胞基础对公共健康有重大影响。昆虫携带的疾病每年折磨着数亿人，其中许多昆虫通过化学感官线索定位它们的宿主和配偶。在了解化学感觉接受方面的进展可能会导致控制这些人类疾病的昆虫媒介的新方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this project is to explain the logic by which chemical signals are encoded, and to elucidate basic principles of the organization and development of the neurons that encode them. The experimental plan takes advantage of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, which allows incisive molecular genetic analysis of chemosensory genes as well as physiological and behavioral analysis of chemosensory function. The project investigates a new family of 30 predicted chemoreceptor genes, the IR20a family, whose expression and function are completely unexplored. The first aim is to map these genes to neurons of chemosensory organs in the adult fly, and to examine their projections in the central nervous system. The aim is designed to address a major problem in sensory biology: how a sensory system integrates the multiple inputs that are ultimately translated into a behavioral response. A likely outcome of this aim is that it will support the identity of the IR20a family as a major new family of invertebrate taste receptors. The second aim is to produce a receptor-to-neuron map in the larval stage. The coexpression of these receptors with each other and with other classes of chemoreceptors will be analyzed. Their developmental profile and cellular location of expression in neurons will be determined. This aim is expected to support the identity of these receptors as a major new family of larval taste receptors. The third aim tests the function of these receptors directly. Hypotheses concerning roles in chemoreception and in neuronal development will be tested through physiological and behavioral measurements, and by examination of neuronal morphology and projections. A model in which they play a dual role in the regulation of feeding will be tested. The molecular and cellular basis of feeding regulation has major implications for public health. Diseases carried by insects afflict hundreds of millions of people each year, and many of these insects locate their human hosts and their mates through chemosensory cues. Advances in the understanding of chemosensory reception may lead to new means of controlling these insect vectors of human disease.