演題詳細
Poster
ショウジョウバエ成虫の体性感覚神経細胞の中枢への投射パターンについて
Topographic Projection Map of Adult Somatosensory Neurons in Drosophila
- P2-171
- 坪内 朝子 / Asako Tsubouchi:1 横山 健 / Takeshi K Yokoyama:1 矢野 朋子 / Tomoko Yano:1,2 伊藤 啓 / Kei Ito:1,2
- 1:東京大学 分子細胞生物学研究所 / The University of Tokyo, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences 2:東京大学大学院 新領域創成科学研究科 / The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of frontier sciences
Mechanical sensation is vital for the survival of animals. It is important for detecting diverse types of external mechanical stimulation such as nociceptive poke, gentle touch, and heat, and wind. Drosophila adult flies have several types of sensory cells such as ciliated neurons, non-ciliated multidendritic neurons, and campaniform sensillia, all along their body surface to transduce various mechanical stimuli. For example, chordotonal neurons in the Johnston organ of the antennae, a subtype of ciliated neurons, are known to detect sound and gravity and project to the antennal and mechanosensory motor centre (AMMC) region of the brain. For other types of somatosensory neurons, however, relatively little is known about their precise distribution, morphology, and projections and contributing neural networks in the central nervous system. To understand the neural circuitry for somatosensation, we first analyzed axonal projection patterns of somatosensory neurons in both the brain and the thoracico-abdominal ganglion (TAG) using an array of Gal4/UAS expression driver strains that label characteristic subsets of somatosensory cells. By comparing their projection patterns with the location of the labeled cell bodies in various body parts, we found that all the somatosensory neurons in the abdomen and campaniform sensillia in the legs terminate specifically within the TAG, whereas several chordotonal neurons in the legs as well as most of the campaniform sensillia in the wings and halteres project directly to specific regions of the brain through the TAG. Detailed analysis of these projection patterns is currently under way in order to establish the topographic somatosensory projection map of the entire body in the insect central nervous system.