Analysis of Chemosensory Receptor Genes

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的长期目标是解释化学信号编码的逻辑，并阐明编码它们的神经元的组织和发育的基本原理。该实验计划利用果蝇作为模型系统，它允许化学感受基因的精辟分子遗传学分析以及化学感受功能的生理和行为分析。该项目研究了一个新的30个预测的化学感受器基因家族，IR 20 a家族，其表达和功能完全未被探索。第一个目标是将这些基因定位到成年果蝇化学感受器官的神经元，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种输入。这一目标的一个可能结果是，它将支持IR 20 a家族作为无脊椎动物味觉受体的主要新家族的身份。第二个目标是在幼虫阶段产生受体-神经元图。将分析这些受体彼此之间以及与其他类别的化学受体的共表达。将确定它们在神经元中的发育概况和表达的细胞位置。这一目标预计将支持这些受体的身份作为一个主要的新家庭的幼虫味觉受体。第三个目的是直接测试这些受体的功能。有关化学感受和神经元发育中的作用的假设将通过生理和行为测量进行测试，并通过检查神经元的形态和预测。一个模型中，他们发挥了双重作用，在调节喂养将进行测试。摄食调节的分子和细胞基础对公众健康有重大影响。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应线索找到它们的人类宿主和配偶。对化学感受器的理解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。 公共卫生相关性：昆虫每年将疾病传播给数亿人，许多疾病的昆虫媒介通过它们的化学感受系统识别人类。该项目旨在揭示昆虫化学感受的基本原理，并可能有助于开发防止昆虫识别人类的新方法。该项目还涉及决定是否接受或拒绝潜在食物来源的分子和细胞基础，这是由所有动物做出的，对公共卫生具有重要影响。

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. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Insects transmit disease to hundreds of millions of people each year, and many insect vectors of disease identify humans through their chemosensory systems. This project is designed to reveal basic principles of insect chemosensation and could be useful in developing new means of preventing insects from identifying humans. The project also concerns the molecular and cellular basis of a decision, whether to accept or reject a potential food source, which is made by all animals and which has important implications for public health.