Adult Frass Provides a Pheromone Signature for Drosophila Feeding and Aggregation

Abstract

Adult Drosophila melanogaster locate food resources by using distinct olfactory cues that often are associated with the fermentation of fruit. However, in addition to being an odorous food source and providing a possible site for oviposition, fermenting fruit also provides a physical substrate upon which flies can attract and court a potential mate. In this study, we demonstrate that Drosophila adults are able to recruit additional flies to a food source by covering the exposed surface area with fecal spots, and that this recruitment is mediated via olfactory receptors (Ors). Analyses of the deposited frass material demonstrates that frass contains several previously studied pheromone components, such as methyl laurate (ML), methyl myristate (MM), methyl palmitate (MP), and 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), in addition to several cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) that are known to be behaviorally active. Moreover, this study also demonstrates that adult feeding is increased in the presence of frass, although it appears that Ors are less likely to mediate this phenomenon. In summary, the frass deposited by the fly onto the fruit provides both pheromone and CHC cues that lead to increased feeding and aggregation in Drosophila. This research is the first step in examining Drosophila frass as an important chemical signature that provides information about both the sex and the species of the fly that generated the fecal spots.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10886-016-0737-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Gut microbiota affects development and olfactory behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

“…Flies were cooled for 3 min at −20°C and then transferred to the behavioral arena. The capillary feeder (CAFÉ) assays utilized glass micropipettes with liquid medium that were filled by capillary action and then inserted through pipette tips into the container holding the adult flies as previously described (Keesey et al, 2016(Keesey et al, , 2017. One capillary contained the control growth medium, while the other contained the microbe culture.…”

'Foraging' for a place to lay eggs: A genetic link between foraging behaviour and oviposition preferences

“…This scenario has potential relevance to the natural world since flies are known to prefer oviposition sites that have been previously occupied [9, 10, 11]. The preseeded eggs were marked with GFP (+; for s ; Ubi -GFP and +; for R ; Ubi- GFP) to facilitate ease of differentiation between focal (unmarked) and preseeded (marked) eggs.…”

Niche partitioning as a selective pressure for the evolution of theDrosophilanervous system

“…Adult flies were allowed to walk up the Y-tube where they had to then choose between either a dark or light arm, where the first choice was noted for each individual fly ( Figure 4B), and time duration was also recorded (Supplementary Figure 1D). After every 10 individuals, an additional, clean glass Y-tube was used (to avoid any contamination from cuticular hydrocarbons or frass/feces left behind by previous flies [41]), and the Y-tubes were rotated after every fly to eliminate any directional bias that could be caused by imperfections in the glass or Y-tube arms. We also rotated the darkened arm every time we exchanged the Y-tube for a clean one, to eliminate any left-right bias.…”