Single Gene Cricket Mutations: Effects on Behavior, Sensilla, Sensory Neurons, and Identified Interneurons

Crickets are suitable for studying the effects of single gene mutations on single nerve cells. In one mutant, three classes of sensilla are lost sequentially. The absence of one class of mechanoreceptors throughout postembryonic development deprives certain sensory neurons of normal stimulation and results in abnormal physiological and structural development of an identified interneuron.