Fig. 6: Tactile bristles require epidermal F-Cells for touch sensing.
a, Left to right: diagram of the adult tactile bristle and the F-Cell, quantifications of the TEP at rest, voltage traces with the averaged response of the neuron upon hair shaft deflection in black, and quantifications of the MRP peak amplitudes from stimulated wild-type Ore-R bristles (n = 31 TEPs and 762 MRPs pooled from 15 flies and three independent experiments). b,c, Left to right: diagram showing the adult tactile bristle without the F-Cell, quantifications of the TEP at rest, voltage traces with the averaged response of the neuron in black, and quantifications of MRP peak amplitudes from stimulated bristles lacking the F-Cell (b: n = 20 TEPs and 380 MRPs versus n = 18 TEPs and 460 MRPs paired controls pooled from eight flies and three independent experiments for each condition) or from bristles with ablated F-Cells (c: n = 15 TEPs and 349 MRPs versus n = 19 TEPs and 538 MRPs paired controls pooled from ten flies and three independent experiments for each condition). d, Action potential (AP) burst firing and AP count at stimulus onset (grey box) in wild-type Ore-R (n = 13 bristle and 1,016 APs pooled from nine flies and three independent experiments for each condition). e,f, AP burst firing and AP count in bristles lacking the F-Cell (e: n = 13 bristles and 745 APs versus n = 11 bristles and 855 APs paired controls pooled from 10 flies and three independent experiments for each conditions), or in bristles after ablation of the F-Cell (n = 11 bristles and 658 APs versus n = 9 bristles and 802 APs paired controls pooled from 11 flies and three independent experiments for each condition). g, Diagram of the touch-evoked scratch reflex assay and quantifications of the responsiveness upon touch in controls versus flies lacking the F-Cell (n = 5 stimuli per fly, 20 flies in two independent experiments per condition). Data are mean (red bar) ± s.e.m. (black bars) (a–c) or mean ± s.d. (black bars) (g). In violin plots, the kernel density distribution of the data is shaped around the central median, extending to the 25% and 75% quartiles (dashed lines) up to the maximum and minimum values. The two-tailed unpaired Kolmogorov–Smirnov test; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 (TEP a–c) or Mann–Whitney test; ****P < 0.0001 (d–g), and one-way ANOVA with Kruskal–Wallis test; ****P < 0.0001 (MRP a–c) were performed. Results are representative of three independent experiments. Full genotypes are listed in Supplementary Table 1. Numerical data and exact P values are available in source data.
