Genetics of Drosophila hearing

Genetics of Drosophila hearing

David Piepenbrock

Doctoral thesis

Date of Examination: 2013-09-27

Date of issue: 2013-10-04

Advisor: Göpfert, Martin Prof. Dr.

Referee: Moser, Tobias Prof. Dr.

Referee: Fiala, André Prof. Dr.

Persistent Address: http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-1735-0000-0001-BBC2-F

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Abstract

English

By probing Johnston’s organ function in mutant fly strains, mutations in forty-four genes that affect Drosophila hearing have been identified. This result increases the list of genes that are known for audition by 180 % (forty-four new versus twenty-four old). I defined several auditory categories based on the change in auditory performance: nine mutations severely impaired Johnston’s organ function, twenty-nine moderately, and six are hypersensitive. This list of hearing genes includes motor proteins, ion channels, and genes that are involved in response to light. With this surprising result, I screened for contributions of genes of the phototransduction cascade to Drosophila hearing, and found that key proteins of the cascade functionally contribute to hearing. Probing correlates of transducer gating revealed that rhodopsins affect mechano-electrical transduction and antibody staining indicates that rhodopsins are expression in Johnston’s organ neurons. In addition, my analysis of flies with duplicated NOMPC ankyrin residues foster the hypothesis that ankyrins may act as gating springs that convey mechanical force to transduction channels.

Keywords: sensory neurobiology; sensory neuroscience; Drosophila melanogaster; hearing; mechano-electrical transduction; screen; atonal; deafness; hearing impairment; blueprint of Drosophila hearing