Description:
By probing Johnston's organ function in mutant fly strains, mutations in forty-four genes that affect Drosophila hearing have been identified. This result increases the list of genes that are known for audition by 180 % (forty-four new versus twenty-four old). I defined several auditory categories based on the change in auditory performance: nine mutations severely impaired Johnston's organ function, twenty-nine moderately, and six are hypersensitive. This list of hearing genes includes motor proteins, ion channels, and genes that are involved in response to light. With this surprising resu...