nan^36a larvae show decreased head-touch response.

nan^36a mutant adult females have no difference in preference for softer plain, or 100 mM sucrose-containing, agarose for egg laying, compared to controls.

nan^36a mutant adults have no difference in spiking or mechanotransduction currents of mechanosensory neurons of the labellar taste bristles or labellar taste pegs in response to mechanical stimuli, compared to controls.

nan^36a mutant adults show defects in sensing food hardness and in contrast to wild-type display diminished preference for softer food with lower sugar content (0.5mM sucrose, 0.2% agarose) to a hard food with higher sugar content (1mM sucrose, 2% agarose) in a binary choice assay. The pharyngeal pumping rate of nan^36a mutants is similar to wild-type.

nan^36a mutant adults have significantly increased water consumption, compared to controls.

Mutant flies show a severe defect in negative geotaxis.

Mutant flies show significantly reduced speed and precision of movements during walking compared to controls. They have a reduced ability to successfully traverse gaps compared to wild type, even at short gap distances of 2.5mm.

nan^36a mutant larvae do not have alterations in defecation rhythm compared to controls.

The gustatory aversion of mutant flies to 6mM camphor in a two way-choice test is not significantly different from that seen in wild-type flies.

Cho neurons in nan^36a mutant larvae exhibit a lower spontaneous firing rate and no increase in action potential firing in response to sound. Ca[2+] imaging also reveals no response of nan^36a mutant Cho neurons to sound.

Mutant flies exhibit the wild type avoidance of aristolochic acid in food choice assays.

Mutant adults show normal avoidance of 1% citronellal in a direct airborne repellent test (DART) assay.

Mutant larvae move more slowly than wild-type larvae at both 14[o] and 17.5[o]C.

The normal preference of third instar larvae for 17.5[o]C over 14[o]C in a two-way choice test is eliminated in mutant larvae if the larvae are released in the middle of the plate at the boundary between the two temperature zones. However, if the larvae are released at either end of the plate at the extreme end of either temperature zone, they mostly stay within that temperature zone and thus the defect seen when the larvae are released in the middle of the plate may be due to impaired locomotor activity.

The response of Johnston's organ neurons to arista deflection (measured by changes in intracellular Ca[2+] concentration) is largely eliminated in nan^36a homozygous adults.

Compared with wild-type, nan^36a mutants display impaired negative geotaxis behaviour in addition to their reduced general locomotion.

The Johnston's organ of nan^36a mutant flies show impaired neural activity in response to body rotation.

nan^36a mutants retain a preference for 18[o]C (i.e. are thermotactic).

Homozygous flies show disrupted hygrosensing behaviour; a higher fraction of flies choose moist air (100% humidity) over dry air (0% humidity) compared to wild-type controls in a hygrosensory behaviour assay after five minutes.

Mutants show an impaired electrophysiological response to dry air, while leaving moist air sensing unaffected (recordings were taken at the base of the 2nd antennal segment in these experiments).

Homozygotes and nan^dy5/nan^36a transheterozygous adults are viable but show abnormal behaviour: they are sedentary, mildly uncoordinated, more likely than wild-type flies to fall whilst climbing, and slower to right themselves after a fall. Homozygotes show a loss of sound-evoked potentials when the antennal extracellular potentials are recorded. Mutant chordotonal organs appear to have normal ultrastructure.