In many animals the circadian rhythm of locomotor activity is controlled by an endogenous circadian clock. Using custom made housing and video tracking software in order to obtain high spatial and temporal resolution, we studied the statistical properties of the locomotor activity of wild type and two clock mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. We show here that the distributions of activity and quiescence bouts for the clock mutants in light-dark conditions (LD) are very different from the distributions obtained when there are no external cues from the environment (DD). In the wild type these distributions are very similar, showing that the clock controls this aspect of behavior in both regimes (LD and DD). Furthermore, the distributions are very similar to those reported for Wistar rats. For the timing of events we also observe important differences, quantified by how the event rate distributions scale for increasing time windows. We find that for the wild type these distributions can be rescaled by the same function in DD as in LD. Interestingly, the same function has been shown to rescale the rate distributions in Wistar rats. On the other hand, for the clock mutants it is not possible to rescale the rate distributions, which might indicate that the extent of circadian control depends on the statistical properties of activity and quiescence.

After mating, the physiology of Drosophila females undergo several important changes, some of which are reflected in their rest-activity cycles. To explore the hypothesis that mating modifies the temporal organization of locomotor activity patterns, we recorded fly activity by a video tracking method. Monitoring rest-activity patterns under light/dark (LD) cycles indicated that mated females lose their ability to anticipate the night-day transition, in stark contrast to males and virgins. This postmating response is mediated by the activation of the sex peptide receptor (SPR) mainly on pickpocket (ppk) expressing neurons, since reducing expression of this receptor in these neurons restores the ability to anticipate the LD transition in mated females. Furthermore, we provide evidence of connectivity between ppk+ neurons and the pigment-dispersing factor (PDF)-positive ventral lateral neurons (sLNv), which play a central role in the temporal organization of daily activity. Since PDF has been associated to the generation of the morning activity peak, we hypothesized that the mating signal could modulate PDF levels. Indeed, we confirm that mated females have reduced PDF levels at the dorsal protocerebrum; moreover, SPR downregulation in ppk+ neurons mimics PDF levels observed in males. In sum, our results are consistent with a model whereby mating-triggered signals reach clock neurons in the fly central nervous system to modulate the temporal organization of circadian behavior according to the needs of the new status.