An inexpensive air stream temperature controller and its use to facilitate temperature controlled behavior in living Drosophila

Abstract

Controlling the environment of an organism has many biologically relevant applications. Temperature-dependent inducible biological reagents have proven invaluable for elucidating signaling cascades and dissection of neural circuits. Here we develop a simple and affordable system for rapidly changing temperature in a chamber housing adult Drosophila melanogaster. Utilizing flies expressing the temperature inducible channel dTrpA1 in dopaminergic neurons, we show rapid and reproducible changes in locomotor behavior. This device should have wide application to temperature modulated biological reagents.\n\nMethod SummaryWe develop widely applicable and affordable solution to rapidly changing temperature within an enclosed chamber using commercially available components.