Visualizing a fly’s nose: genetic and physiological techniques for studying odour coding in Drosophila

Authors

  • M. De Bruyne

Abstract

Most insect species rely on odours to orient themselves towards resources or escape hazardous environments. Over the past six years studies on odour perception in Drosophila melanogaster have rapidly increased our knowledge on the detection of such signals. Due to the availability of relatively straightforward genetic techniques, the cellular elements of the olfactory code in this insect can be manipulated. Olfactory receptor neurons (ORN) in Drosophila can be visualized with fluorescent proteins and their physiological properties studied using electrophysiological and optophysiological techniques. The ultrastructure of olfactory sensilla and the odour responses of ORNs in more than half of them have been described. On the molecular level, three large families of genes that provide the basis for these responses have been characterized; olfactory receptors (OR), gustatory receptors (GR) and odour-binding proteins (OBP). OR proteins have been shown to function as odour detectors and they have been mapped to ORN classes to a high degree of completion. Hence, the Drosophila olfactory system provides a good basis for studying how odour coding in insects has evolved and how ORNs relay the information present in chemical communication systems

Downloads

Published

2006-06-01