Document Type
Article
Publication Date
January 2014
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0095472
Keywords
neurons, subset, fruitless
Disciplines
Biology | Genetics
Abstract
We show that a small subset of two to six subesophageal neurons, expressing the male products of the male courtship master regulator gene products fruitlessMale (fruM), are required in the early stages of the Drosophila melanogaster male courtship behavioral program. Loss of fruM expression or inhibition of synaptic transmission in these fruM(+) neurons results in delayed courtship initiation and a failure to progress to copulation primarily under visually-deficient conditions. We identify a fruM-dependent sexually dimorphic arborization in the tritocerebrum made by two of these neurons. Furthermore, these SOG neurons extend descending projections to the thorax and abdominal ganglia. These anatomical and functional characteristics place these neurons in the position to integrate gustatory and higher-order signals in order to properly initiate and progress through early courtship.
Recommended Citation
David Tran, Geoffrey Meissner, Rachael French, and Bruce Baker. "A small subset of fruitless subesophageal neurons modulate early courtship in Drosophila" Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences (2014). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0095472
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
This article originally appeared in PLoS ONE, volume 9, issue 4, 2014 and can be found online at this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0095472
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.