Title: The role of TRP channels in auditory transduction and amplification in Drosophila
Description: Auditory receptor cells rely on force-gated channels to transform sound stimuli into neural activity. These primary auditory neurons form the first stage of the neural circuits that support a host of higher-order functions, such as the localization of sound or the comprehension of speech. The mechanisms of sound transduction, as well as higher-order processes such as acoustic communication during courtship, can be studied in the fruit fly Drosophila melangogaster, a model organism with a suite of powerful genetic tools. However, this work is hampered by incomplete knowledge of the components of the Drosophila auditory system and a lack of high resolution techniques for investigating their function.