Two Interdependent TRPV Channel Subunits, Inactive and Nanchung, Mediate Hearing in Drosophila

• Published in: The Journal of neuroscience Vol. 24; no. 41; pp. 9059 - 9066
• Main Authors: Gong, Zhefeng, Son, Wonseok, Doo Chung, Yun, Kim, Janghwan, Shin, Dong Wook, McClung, Colleen A, Lee, Yong, Lee, Hye Won, Chang, Deok-Jin, Kaang, Bong-Kiun, Cho, Hawon, Oh, Uhtaek, Hirsh, Jay, Kernan, Maurice J, Kim, Changsoo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Soc Neuroscience 13.10.2004; Society for Neuroscience
• Subjects: Animals; Calcium Channels - biosynthesis; Calcium Channels - genetics; Calcium Channels - physiology; Cell Line; Cellular/Molecular; Chromosome Mapping; Cilia - metabolism; Cricetinae; Crosses, Genetic; Drosophila; Drosophila - genetics; Drosophila - physiology; Drosophila Proteins - biosynthesis; Drosophila Proteins - genetics; Drosophila Proteins - physiology; Female; Hearing - genetics; Hearing - physiology; Hearing Disorders - genetics; Ion Channels - biosynthesis; Ion Channels - genetics; Ion Channels - physiology; Male; Mutagenesis; Mutation; Neurons, Afferent - metabolism; Neurons, Afferent - ultrastructure; Patch-Clamp Techniques; Protein Subunits - biosynthesis; Protein Subunits - genetics; Protein Subunits - physiology; Receptors, Drug - biosynthesis; Receptors, Drug - genetics; Receptors, Drug - physiology; Transient Receptor Potential Channels
• DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1645-04.2004
• ISSN: 0270-6474

Hearing in Drosophila depends on the transduction of antennal vibration into receptor potentials by ciliated sensory neurons in Johnston's organ, the antennal chordotonal organ. We previously found that a Drosophila protein in the vanilloid receptor subfamily (TRPV) channel subunit, Nanchung (NAN), is localized to the chordotonal cilia and required to generate sound-evoked potentials (Kim et al., 2003). Here, we show that the only other Drosophila TRPV protein is mutated in the behavioral mutant inactive (iav). The IAV protein forms a hypotonically activated channel when expressed in cultured cells; in flies, it is specifically expressed in the chordotonal neurons, localized to their cilia and required for hearing. IAV and NAN are each undetectable in cilia of mutants lacking the other protein, indicating that they both contribute to a heteromultimeric transduction channel in vivo. A functional green fluorescence protein-IAV fusion protein shows that the channel is restricted to the proximal cilium, constraining models for channel activation.