Contact Chemoreceptors Mediate Male-Male Repulsion and Male-Female Attraction during Drosophila Courtship

Abstract

Summary The elaborate courtship ritual of Drosophila males is dictated by neural circuitry established by the transcription factor Fruitless and triggered by sex-specific sensory cues. Deciphering the role of different stimuli in driving courtship behavior has been limited by the inability to selectively target appropriate sensory classes. Here, we identify two ion channel genes belonging to the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel family, ppk23 and ppk29, which are expressed in fruitless-positive neurons on the legs and are essential for courtship. Gene loss-of-function, cell inactivation and cell activation experiments demonstrate that these genes and neurons are necessary and sufficient to inhibit courtship toward males and promote courtship toward females. Moreover, these cells respond to cuticular hydrocarbons, with different cells selectively responding to male or female pheromones. These studies identify a large population of pheromone-sensing neurons and demonstrate the essential role of contact chemosensation in the early courtship steps of mate selection and courtship initiation.

Visually induced initiation of Drosophila innate courtship-like following pursuit is mediated by central excitatory state

“…A previous Ca 2 þ imaging study 8 demonstrated that the pC1/P1 cluster neurons are activated by female sex pheromones, which stimulate foreleg sensory cells when the male taps the female abdomen 20 . To determine whether the pC1 and pC2l cluster neurons are also active during subsequent courtship bouts maintained by visual stimuli, that is, the presentation of a moving multi-spot pattern, we imaged activity in tethered male flies expressing GCaMP3.0 in dsx-Gal4 positive neurons while they engaged in courtship-like following behaviour on the treadmill ( Supplementary Fig.…”

Chemicals and chemoreceptors: ecologically relevant signals driving behavior in Drosophila

“…In addition, at least three members of the TRP channels, TRP1, Painless, and TRPL are expressed in bitter neurons in the labellum where they are involved in detection of aversive compounds (Al-Anzi et al, 2006;Kim et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2013b). Also, several ppk channels are expressed in taste neurons where they are required for relevant taste modalities such as low-salt detection (Liu et al, 2003b) and intraspecific chemical communication in larvae (Mast et al, 2014), and water perception (Cameron et al, 2010) and chemical communication during courtship in adults Lu et al, 2012;Starostina et al, 2012;Thistle et al, 2012;Toda et al, 2012;Vijayan et al, 2014). Finally, DmXR, a receptor homologous to metabotropic glutamate receptors that has lost the ability to bind glutamate (Mitri et al, 2004), may also act as a taste receptor.…”

“…Liu et al, 2003aLiu et al, ,b, 2012Lu et al, 2012;Starostina et al, 2012;Thistle et al, 2012;Toda et al, 2012;Zelle et al, 2013;Guo et al, 2014;Mast et al, 2014;Vijayan et al, 2014 Larval terminal organ…”

“…Leg Aphrodisiac for intraspecific males, female receptivity promotion Liu et al, 2012;Lu et al, 2012;Thistle et al, 2012;Toda et al, 2012;Vijayan et al, 2014 IR52c-IR52d…”

Electrophysiological Recording From <em>Drosophila</em> Labellar Taste Sensilla

“…Taste is also thought to play a role in mate selection, through the detection of pheromones [1][2][3][4][5] . These important and diverse functions have made the insect taste system a compelling target of investigation into how sensory systems translate environmental cues into relevant behavioral outputs.…”