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Published online on February 20, 2007, 10.1073/pnas.0700079104
PNAS | February 27, 2007 | vol. 104 | no. 9 | 3574-3578


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BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES / NEUROSCIENCE
The molecular basis of CO2 reception in Drosophila

Jae Young Kwon, Anupama Dahanukar, Linnea A. Weiss, and John R. Carlson*

Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8103

Communicated by Sydney Kustu, University of California, Berkeley, CA, January 4, 2007 (received for review December 15, 2006)

CO2 elicits a response from many insects, including mosquito vectors of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever, but the molecular basis of CO2 detection is unknown in insects or other higher eukaryotes. Here we show that Gr21a and Gr63a, members of a large family of Drosophila seven-transmembrane-domain chemoreceptor genes, are coexpressed in chemosensory neurons of both the larva and the adult. The two genes confer CO2 response when coexpressed in an in vivo expression system, the "empty neuron system." The response is highly specific for CO2 and dependent on CO2 concentration. The response shows an equivalent dependence on the dose of Gr21a and Gr63a. None of 39 other chemosensory receptors confers a comparable response to CO2. The identification of these receptors may now allow the identification of agents that block or activate them. Such agents could affect the responses of insect pests to the humans they seek.

chemoreceptors | insect | Gr genes

Author contributions: J.Y.K., A.D., and L.A.W. designed research; J.Y.K., A.D., and L.A.W. performed research; J.Y.K., A.D., L.A.W., and J.R.C. analyzed data; and J.Y.K., A.D., L.A.W., and J.R.C. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0700079104/DC1.

Note Added in Proof.

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: john.carlson{at}yale.edu

© 2007 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA


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