0000000000964082
AUTHOR
Ralph J. Greenspan
Courtship Behavior of Brain Mosaics in Drosophila
0167-7063 (Print) Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Sites in the brain that show functional, sexual dimorphism in courtship behavior have been mapped at high resolution in male/female mosaics of Drosophila melanogaster. The sex mosaics were produced by enhancer-trap expression of GAL4 driving the female-spliced form of the transformer gene (tra), revealing sites in the dorsal brain, lateral protocerebrum, suboesophageal, thoracic and abdominal ganglia, and suggesting the importance of cross-talk between these regions in the implementation of the courtship sequence.
Courtship in Drosophila
0066-4197 (Print) Journal Article Review; Courtship is a complex behavior in Drosophila that recruits a wide range of genes for its realization, including those concerning sex determination, ion channels, and circadian rhythms. Results from different experimental approaches-behavioral and genetic comparisons between species, analysis of mutants and mosaics, and identification of specific sensory stimuli-sketch the outlines of a set of pleiotropic genes acting on a distributed system in the brain to produce the species-specific sequence of responses and actions.
Genes involved in sex pheromone discrimination in Drosophila melanogaster and their background-dependent effect.
International audience; Mate choice is based on the comparison of the sensory quality of potential mating partners, and sex pheromones play an important role in this process. In Drosophila melanogaster, contact pheromones differ between male and female in their content and in their effects on male courtship, both inhibitory and stimulatory. To investigate the genetic basis of sex pheromone discrimination, we experimentally selected males showing either a higher or lower ability to discriminate sex pheromones over 20 generations. This experimental selection was carried out in parallel on two different genetic backgrounds: wild-type and desat1 mutant, in which parental males showed high and l…
Genes involved in sex pheromones discrimination and their context-dependent effect
Mate choice is based on the comparison of the sensory quality of potential mating partners and sex pheromones are important with regard to mate choice. In Drosophila melanogaster, male and female contact pheromones diverge both for their occurence and for their effects — respectively inhibitory and stimulatory — on male courtship. To investigate the genetic basis of sex pheromones discrimination in male flies, we experimentally selected, during 20 generations, lines in which males showed either the higher or the lower ability to discriminate sex pheromones. This experimental selection was carried out with wild-type and desat1 mutant genetic backgrounds in which parental males respectively s…
Genes involved in sex pheromone discrimination and their context-dependent effect
International audience