Learning in normal and mutant Drosophila larvae

Abstract

Adult Drosophila melanogaster have previously been conditioned with shock to avoid various odors. In these experiments, larvae also sensed airborne odorants, responded to electric shock, and learned. Larval behavior paralleled adult behavior for (i) a mutant, smellblind, which failed to respond to odorants; (ii) three mutants, dunce, turnip, and cabbage, which were deficient in olfactory learning ability; and (iii) a mutant heterozygote, turnip/+, which learned but also forgot rapidly.