We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
The Genetic Basis for Variation in Olfactory Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster.
- Authors
Arya, Gunjan H.; Magwire, Michael M.; Wen Huang; Serrano Negron, Yazmin L.; Mackay, Trudy F. C.; Anholt, Robert R. H.
- Abstract
The genetic underpinnings that contribute to variation in olfactory perception are not fully understood. To explore the genetic basis of variation in olfactory perception, we measured behavioral responses to 14 chemically diverse naturally occurring odorants in 260 400 flies from 186 lines of the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel, a population of inbred wild-derived lines with sequenced genomes. We observed variation in olfactory behavior for all odorants. Low to moderate broad-sense heritabilities and the large number of tests for genotype-olfactory phenotype association performed precluded any individual variant from reaching formal significance. However, the top variants (nominal P < 5 x 10-5) were highly enriched for genes involved in nervous system development and function, as expected for a behavioral trait. Further, pathway enrichment analyses showed that genes tagged by the top variants included components of networks centered on cyclic guanosine monophosphate and inositol triphosphate signaling, growth factor signaling, Rho signaling, axon guidance, and regulation of neural connectivity. Functional validation with RNAi and mutations showed that 15 out of 17 genes tested indeed affect olfactory behavior. Our results show that in addition to chemoreceptors, variation in olfactory perception depends on polymorphisms that can result in subtle variations in synaptic connectivity within the nervous system.
- Subjects
OLFACTORY perception; OLFACTORY nerve; DROSOPHILA melanogaster; GENOTYPE-environment interaction; BEHAVIOR genetics; GENETIC polymorphisms
- Publication
Chemical Senses, 2015, Vol 40, Issue 4, p233
- ISSN
0379-864X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/chemse/bjv001