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西亚试剂：Drosophila hygrosensation requires the TRP channels water w

Drosophila hygrosensation requires the TRP channels water witch and nanchung

Lei Liu1, Yuhong Li1, Runping Wang1,2, Chong Yin3, Qian Dong1,2, Huey Hing3, Changsoo Kim4 & Michael J. Welsh1,2

  1. Departments of Internal Medicine,
  2. Departments of Physiology and Biophysics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
  3. Department of Cell and Structure Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
  4. Hormone Research Center, School of Biological Sciences and Technology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju 500-757, Korea

Correspondence to: Michael J. Welsh1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.J.W. (Email: michael-welsh@uiowa.edu).

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The ability to detect variations in humidity is critical for many animals. Birds, reptiles and insects all show preferences for specific humidities that influence their mating, reproduction and geographic distribution1, 2. Because of their large surface area to volume ratio, insects are particularly sensitive to humidity, and its detection can influence their survival3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Two types of hygroreceptors exist in insects: one responds to an increase (moist receptor) and the other to a reduction (dry receptor) in humidity4, 6, 8. Although previous data indicated that mechanosensation might contribute to hygrosensation6, 9, the cellular basis of hygrosensation and the genes involved in detecting humidity remain unknown. To understand better the molecular bases of humidity sensing, we investigated several genes encoding channels associated with mechanosensation, thermosensing or water transport. Here we identify two Drosophila melanogaster transient receptor potential channels needed for sensing humidity: CG31284, named by us water witch (wtrw), which is required to detect moist air, and nanchung (nan), which is involved in detecting dry air. Neurons associated with specialized sensory hairs in the third segment of the antenna express these channels, and neurons expressing wtrw and nan project to central nervous system regions associated with mechanosensation. Construction of the hygrosensing system with opposing receptors may allow an organism to very sensitively detect changes in environmental humidity.