Authors: Laura Alejandra Lujano Perez 1; Juan Rafael Riesgo Escovar 2
Affiliations: 1) Maestría en Ciencias (Neurobiología), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; 2) Instituto de Neurobiología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Keywords: e. synaptic function and organization; q. vision
We isolated mutations in a gene that we named tecuzitécatl (tecu), that codes for a phospholipase A2 enzyme narrowly expressed in a group of Kenyon cells, which are the mushroom bodies intrinsic neurons in the brain of Drosophila melanogaster. Here we show that mutations in this gene lead to faulty behavioral responses in visual paradigms. We directly compared responses of control (yw) and two mutant tecu strains (tecu1 and tecu2), because all of them share the same genetic background. We first performed a larval phototaxis assay. Results show that they present significantly different responses (migrate more towards the light). We also performed an adult countercurrent assay, where they have a deficient response to light (have significantly less positive phototaxis). Taken together, these results show that tecu has an important role processing visual responses in Drosophila melanogaster.