Figure 4.

Class III nociceptors are necessary for cold acclimation

(A) Outline of the approach used for thermal acclimation and cold tolerance assessment. D. melanogaster larvae were acclimated to either 24 or 10°C and subjected to 0°C cold shock for 60 min. The percentage of animals which successfully eclosed constituted the % survival rate.

(B) Control (w¹¹¹⁸ and GAL4>TNT^IMP) larvae showed some baseline differences in cold tolerance, but showed increased cold tolerance following cold acclimation, regardless. Bar charts show % animals which survived cold shock ±standard error of the proportion. N = 360, n = 30 in each condition, each referring to the number of larvae assayed, with experiments performed in triplicates of 10 larvae each. Differences were assessed by z-test and Bayesian A/B test.

(C) Silencing CIII neurons via active tetanus toxin (TNT) resulted in an inability to cold acclimate; cold acclimated larvae had similar cold tolerance to room temperature acclimated larvae. Silencing CII and Chordotonal (Ch) neurons independently had no effect on cold acclimating capacity. Silencing CIII neurons independently resulted in an increase in baseline cold tolerance, but this was not apparently present when combinatorially silencing CIII with CII/Ch. Bar charts show % animals which survived cold shock ±standard error of the proportion. N = 300; n = 30 in each condition with experiments performed in triplicates of 10 larvae each. Differences were assessed by z-test and Bayesian A/B test.