Mechanisms and genes in Drosophila hearing

Abstract

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster communicates acoustically and hears with its antennae. Fundamental aspects of hearing can be studied in these antennal ears, the auditory sensory cells of which are evolutionarily related to vertebrate hair cells and are specified developmentally by homologous transcription factors. Like vertebrate hair cells, Drosophila auditory sensory cells are also motile and actively amplify the mechanical vibrations they transduce. The transduction and amplification mechanisms rely on the interplay between mechanically activated ion channels and motor proteins, whose movement impacts upon the macroscopic performance of the ear. The first molecular transducer components have been identified and various auditory system-relevant proteins have been described. Several of these proteins are conserved components of cilia, suggesting the fly’s ear as a model for human ciliopathies. The evolution of sensory signaling cascades can also be studied using the fly’s ear, as the fly employs key chemo- and photoreceptor proteins to hear. Evidence is also accumulating that the fly’s ear is a multifunctional sensory organ, which, in addition to mediating hearing, serves to detect wind, gravity and presumably temperature.