Tongchao Li

Contact Information

Research Interests

I'm currently a second year graduate student in Program of Developmental Biology and a graduate student in the Bellen and Groves labs. I am interested in unraveling the development and function of the Drosophila hearing organ. Hearing is an important peripheral sense and there are numerous human diseases linked to hearing defects. In the fly, normal hearing function plays a role in courtship and mating. The Drosophila auditory organ is named Johnston's Organ (JO), which contains chordotonal organs located in the second segment of antenna that are attached to the base of the third segment. When the third segment of antenna vibrates because of air turbulence, the mechanosensory neurons are excited and produce a sound-evoked potential. Besides hearing, JO is also responsible for detection of gravity, which can be measured in a negative geotaxis assay. Mechanosensory neurons are also found in bristles and non-auditory chordotonal organs, which process touch and proprioception. I currently participate in a genetic screen to identify new genes that affect hearing. I am screening for essential genes that are also required for hearing, while most previously identified genes involved in hearing are not required for viability. We use the FRT-FLP system to generate mosaic clones in JO and do immunostaining to look at the morphology of JO. I hope to identify genes that cause morphological defects in the JO. I also measure the sound-evoked potentials to discover functionally defective mutants. Currently most of my work focuses on hearing, but I am also interested in gravity-sensing and proprioception. I would be interested to see if some of my Drosophila mutants have homologues in mammals and for this reason I am also a member of the Groves lab.