Pain nerves are sensory neurons that signal dangers such as injury and high temperature, and the perception of pain occurs by transmitting such "noxious stimuli" to the brain.Pain is a warning signal to protect yourself, but if it hurts abnormally without a clear danger such as injury or inflammation, it is considered to be a disease such as chronic pain disease, and there are many patients all over the world.Abnormalities in the nociceptive nerves are thought to be one of the causes, and elucidation is underway at the genetic level, but no major progress has been made so far.

　In this study, we discovered a large number of previously unknown genes involved in the function of the nociceptive nerve by conducting a large-scale gene search using Drosophila melanogaster.The gene found this time is strongly expressed in the pain nerves of Drosophila larvae (the gene produces the desired protein and RNA), and if the function of the gene is suppressed in the pain nerves, the pain response to heat may be slowed down. It was thought to be important for the function of the nociceptive nerve because it became irritable.A comparison of the gene databases of humans and Drosophila melanogaster revealed that more than half of the genes found this time are also present in humans, and that most of them are also strongly expressed in the pain nerves of mice from the comparison with previous studies. rice field.

　The results show that the genes discovered in this study are also important for the function of the nociceptive nerves of mammals, including humans.In the future, if human nociceptive nerve function can be elucidated at the genetic level, it is expected to develop drugs useful for the treatment and prevention of chronic pain diseases.