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Papers of the Week


Papers: 19 Jun 2021 - 25 Jun 2021


Animal Studies


2021 Jun 25


iScience


24


6

Identification of a neural basis for cold acclimation in larvae.

Authors

Himmel NJ, Letcher JM, Sakurai A, Gray TR, Benson MN, Donaldson KJ, Cox DN
iScience. 2021 Jun 25; 24(6):102657.
PMID: 34151240.

Abstract

Low temperatures can be fatal to insects, but many species have evolved the ability to cold acclimate, thereby increasing their cold tolerance. It has been previously shown that larvae perform cold-evoked behaviors under the control of noxious cold-sensing neurons (nociceptors), but it is unknown how the nervous system might participate in cold tolerance. Herein, we describe cold-nociceptive behavior among 11 drosophilid species; we find that the predominant cold-evoked larval response is a head-to-tail contraction behavior, which is likely inherited from a common ancestor, but is unlikely to be protective. We therefore tested the hypothesis that cold nociception functions to protect larvae by triggering cold acclimation. We found that Class III nociceptors are sensitized by and critical to cold acclimation and that cold acclimation can be optogenetically evoked, cold. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that cold nociception constitutes a peripheral neural basis for larval cold acclimation.