Feb. 20, 2013
Assistant professor Joanna Chiu will host the seminar, which is scheduled to be recorded for later viewing on UCTV.
About her research and her upcoming seminar, Dahanukar says: "We are interested in the molecular neurobiology of feeding behavior. Insects use highly diverse groups of gustatory receptors (Grs) to taste the chemical world and determine the palatability of potential food sources. In Drosophila melanogaster, the 68 receptors of this family are expressed in complex combinatorial patterns in taste neurons. In previous studies we and others identified a highly conserved clade of eight Gr genes that encode sugar receptors. Although some of these have been linked to detection of sweet compounds by genetic analysis, their precise functions are still poorly understood. Little is also known about how stimuli that are typically not rich in sugars trigger highly attractive gustatory responses in Drosophila."
"We have also obtained functional expression of a taste receptor from the mosquito Anopheles gambiae in Drosophila. We are now poised to further investigate taste detection and Gr function in Drosophila and other insects."
Among her honors, Dahanukar received a National Science Foundation Career Award in 2012; the Whitehall Foundation Award in 2011; the 2000 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award. She was awarded a Government of India National Merit Scholarship in 1990.
She holds a bachelor of science degree in life sciences in 1990 from the Bombay University, India; a master's degree in environmental management from Duke University; and a doctorate in genetics in 1999 from Duke University, where she studied patterning along the anterior-posterior axis in Drosophila embryos. In 1999, she joined the laboratory of John Carlson at Yale University to pursue post-doctoral training in the molecular neurobiology of insect chemosensory systems. Dahanukar joined the faculty of the UC Riverside Department of Entomology in 2009.
Among her latest publications:
2011
Wisotsky, Z., Medina, A., Freeman, E. & Dahanukar, A. Evolutionary
differences in food preferences rely on Gr64e, a receptor for glycerol. Nat
Neurosci 14(12): 1534-1541.
Kwon, J.Y., Dahanukar, A., Weiss, L.A. & Carlson, J.R. Molecular and cellular
organization of the taste system in the Drosophila larva. J Neurosci 31(43):
15300-15309.
Weiss, L.A., Dahanukar, A., Kwon, J.Y., Banerjee, D. & Carlson, J.R. The
molecular and cellular basis of bitter taste in Drosophila. Neuron 69(2): 258-
272.
Dahanukar, A. & Ray, A. Courtship, aggression and avoidance: Pheromones,
receptors and neurons for social behaviors in Drosophila. Fly 5(1): 58-63.
2010
Benton, R. and Dahanukar, A. Chemosensory coding in single sensilla. In
“Drosophila neurobiology methods: A companion to the Cold Spring Harbor
Neurobiology of Drosophila course,” Scott Waddell, Bing Zhang and Marc
Freeman (ed.), CSHL press. pp.247-276.
2007
Dahanukar, A., Lei, Y-T., Kwon, J. Y. and Carlson, J.R. Two Gr genes
underlie sugar reception in Drosophila. Neuron 56(3):503-516.
Kwon, J.Y., Dahanukar, A., Weiss, L.A. & Carlson, J.R. The molecular basis
of CO2 reception in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 104(9):3574-3578.
2006 Hallem, E. A., Dahanukar, A., and Carlson, J. R. Insect odor and taste
receptors. Annu Rev Entomol 51: 113-135.
2005
Coelho, C. M., Kolevski, B., Bunn, C., Walker, C., Dahanukar, A., and
Leevers, S. J. Growth and cell survival are unevenly impaired in pixie mutant
wing discs. Development 132(24): 5411-5424.
Dahanukar, A., Hallem, E. A., and Carlson, J. R. Insect chemoreception. Curr
Opin Neurobiol 15(4): 423-430.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894