Fig. 4.
Flies overexpressing NPF are more sensitive to ethanol vapor. (A) The ethanol sensitivity was tested for female flies overexpressing NPF (386Y-gal4 X UAS-npf) and three controls, 386Y-gal4 X y w, H1-lacZ, and CS X UAS-npf. The control fly H1-lacZ harbors the transgenic construct containing a lacZ reporter driven by an embryonic enhancer from the hairy gene and a miniwhite gene (see Materials and Methods) that provides a control for the effect of the white gene product on host ethanol response. The UAS-npf and H1-lacZ flies are in the y w background. The assay was performed by using a 31% ethanol solution. Flies were tested in three separate trials (n = 20 per trial). The 386Y-gal4 X UAS-npf flies are more sensitive to ethanol than the controls starting from 50 min (P < 0.0001). (B) The NPF-overexpressing files (npf-gal4 X UAS-npf) showed more sensitivity to ethanol vapor than the controls (y w X UAS-npf, y w X UAS-ANF-GFP, and npf-gal4 X UAS-ANF-GFP) when exposed to a 31% ethanol solution. All of the fly lines used are in the y w background. P = 0.026 starting from 30 min. (C) The ether sensitivity of y w and npf-gal4 X UAS-npf flies was also measured by using an assay where 33 μl of ether was added to a cotton pad sealed in a 180-ml bottle. Each assay typically uses 20 females, and at least three separate trials were performed. The T50% values of the flies were similar (P > 0.79).