cAMP signalling in mushroom bodies modulates temperature preference behaviour in Drosophila

Body temperature Neurons in the mushroom body structures of the fruit fly's brain are essential to processes such as learning, memory and sleep regulation. A study by Sung-Tae Hong et al. shows that they also play a role in temperature preference behaviour. Some animals, like us, regulate body temperature internally by changing their metabolism. But for others, like Drosophila, body temperature is a result of heat exchange with their environment. Drosophila instinctively seek an environment to match a genetically preferred body temperature, a process analogous to the mammalian set point temperature. When cyclic AMP-dependent kinase activity in mushroom body neurons is artificially lowered, flies are unable to find their desired temperature; when it is increased, they favour high temperatures. This work suggests that temperature sensation may share some cellular mechanisms with learning and memory.