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Drosophila mechanical nociceptors preferentially sense localized poking

Authors :
Zhen Liu
Meng-Hua Wu
Qi-Xuan Wang
Shao-Zhen Lin
Xi-Qiao Feng
Bo Li
Xin Liang
Source :
eLife, Vol 11 (2022)
Publication Year :
2022
Publisher :
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd, 2022.

Abstract

Mechanical nociception is an evolutionarily conserved sensory process required for the survival of living organisms. Previous studies have revealed much about the neural circuits and sensory molecules in mechanical nociception, but the cellular mechanisms adopted by nociceptors in force detection remain elusive. To address this issue, we study the mechanosensation of a fly larval nociceptor (class IV da neurons, c4da) using a customized mechanical device. We find that c4da are sensitive to mN-scale forces and make uniform responses to the forces applied at different dendritic regions. Moreover, c4da showed a greater sensitivity to localized forces, consistent with them being able to detect the poking of sharp objects, such as wasp ovipositor. Further analysis reveals that high morphological complexity, mechanosensitivity to lateral tension and possibly also active signal propagation in dendrites contribute to the sensory features of c4da. In particular, we discover that Piezo and Ppk1/Ppk26, two key mechanosensory molecules, make differential but additive contributions to the mechanosensitivity of c4da. In all, our results provide updates into understanding how c4da process mechanical signals at the cellular level and reveal the contributions of key molecules.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
2050084X
Volume :
11
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
eLife
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.48ca8b7ecde545ae97ba3c6a57e5a40b
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76574