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Updated: Mar 19, 2026
A Behavioral Assay for Mechanosensation of MARCM-based Clones in Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: December 30, 2015
Transmembrane channel-like (tmc) gene regulates Drosophila larval locomotion
Yanmeng Guo1, Yuping Wang2, Wei Zhang3
1Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Graduate School of University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158; Department of Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158; Department of Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158;
Abstract:
Drosophila larval locomotion, which entails rhythmic body contractions, is controlled by sensory feedback from proprioceptors. The molecular mechanisms mediating this feedback are little understood. By using genetic knock-in and immunostaining, we found that the Drosophila melanogaster transmembrane channel-like (tmc) gene is expressed in the larval class I and class II dendritic arborization (da) neurons and bipolar dendrite (bd) neurons, both of which are known to provide sensory feedback for larval locomotion. Larvae with knockdown or loss of tmc function displayed reduced crawling speeds, increased head cast frequencies, and enhanced backward locomotion. Expressing Drosophila TMC or mammalian TMC1 and/or TMC2 in the tmc-positive neurons rescued these mutant phenotypes. Bending of the larval body activated the tmc-positive neurons, and in tmc mutants this bending response was impaired. This implicates TMC's roles in Drosophila proprioception and the sensory control of larval locomotion. It also provides evidence for a functional conservation between Drosophila and mammalian TMCs.
