Double-String Model for Auditory Transduction of Drosophila

The Drosophila auditory system consists of four large basal segments: the arista, the funiculus, the pedicel, and the scape. When an acoustic stimulus is applied to the arista and the funiculus their mechanical vibrations are transmitted to chordotonal neurons in Johnston's organ where mechanoelectric transduction arises. We study the mechanotransduction mechanism in the Drosophila auditory system by using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) and extracellular electrophysiology. We find that large and small peaks appear alternatively and that the antenna vibration is asymmetric depending on whether the pedicel and the scape are fixed. Interestingly, we find that this asymmetric vibration accompanies the alternating neural peak structure. Here, we propose a mathematical model to explain the alternating peak structure by using a model consisting of two opposing neurons that are modeled as strings. Generally, strings have tension only when they are elongated. This property allows the alternating neural peaks for asymmetric antenna motion.