Fig 6. Acute blockage of synaptic output of 5-HT cells and potential 5-HT_2A receptor cells does not affect chemosensory behavior.

The 5-HT_2A-Gal4 and TRH-Gal4 lines were crossed with UAS-shi^ts to genetically interfere with synaptic transmission only during training and testing but not during development. In addition, the Gal4 lines and UAS-hid,rpr were crossed with w¹¹¹⁸ to obtain heterozygous genetic control larvae. (A) provides a color scheme for the different groups used in each experiment. (B) shows the temperature regime that was applied to block synaptic output at the restrictive temperature of 35°C specifically during training (30 min) and testing (5 min). Immediately before the experiment, larvae were incubated (2 min) in a water-bath at 37°C. Aversive olfactory learning and memory reinforced by high salt concentration (C and D), olfactory preferences for AM and BA (E–H) and gustatory preferences for SALT (I and J) were analyzed. In none of the cases experimental larvae behaved significantly different compared to both genetic control groups. We thus reason that blockage of synaptic output of 5-HT cells and 5-HT_2A-Gal4 positive cells does not impair all tested chemosensory behaviors. Sample size (n = 12–18) is indicated at the bottom of each box plot. Differences against zero are given at the top of each box plot. Differences between all three groups or individual groups are shown at the bottom of the panel, except for SALT, where it is placed above the box plots. Visualization of statistical evaluations: if only n.s. is shown the initial KWT did not suggest for a difference between the three groups (p > 0.05). When differences between each group are shown this provides the results of the BWRT as the initial KWT suggested for singnificance (p < 0.05). *** (p < 0.001), ** (p < 0.01), * (p < 0.05), n.s. (not significant p ≥ 0.05).