Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 25: Oscillatory Systems

BP 25.2: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2007, 15:00–15:15, H44

Biophysics of Drosophila Audition — •Björn Nadrowski, Jörg Thaddäus Albert, and Martin Cornelius Göpfert — Zoologisches Institut, Universität Köln, Weyertal 119, 50923 Köln

In Drosophila, hearing is mediated by the antenna. Stimulus forces acting on the antennal receiver are coupled to dedicated neurons that comprise the molecular machinery for mechanosensory transduction, adaptation and amplification. Because the action of this machinery is reflected in the receiver's mechanics, the latter can be used to probe the molecular mechanisms that bring about hearing in an intact ear . These mechanisms are now shown to closely resemble those that are at work in hair cells in vertebrate ears. Based on the gating-spring model of transduction in vertebrate hair cells, we have developed an extended, symmetric gating-spring model that takes the fly's anatomy into account. This model explains the ear's performance, including the receiver's mechanics and the electrical response of the afferent nerve. These findings suggest that while the auditory anatomies are vastly different, the mechanisms that promote fly and vertebrate hearing are functionally equivalent and, possibly, evolutionarily conserved.