Genetic control of changes in locomotor activity caused by social experience in Drosophila males

Abstract

Social experience (housing in a unisexual group) modifies locomotor activity in Drosophila. In females, suppression of locomotion occurs only when flies are in aggregations (Kamyshev et al. 2002a), but males retain lowered level of locomotor activity up to 5 days after their separation from a group (Panova et al. 2013). The mechanism of how social experience (housing in a group) affects locomotor activity in Drosophila males is yet unknown. To study the genetic control and clarify the mechanisms of behavioral changes resulted from social experience, we have tested the locomotor activity modifications in various mutants including those with impaired learning/memory, circadian rhythms, some biochemical pathways and sensory systems. Results of the present study show that these changes are not based on learning/memory mechanisms. The dopaminergic system seems to play a principal role in the changes of locomotor activity caused by social experience while the octopaminergic system may modulate them. Also, the dependence of this behavioral modification upon olfactory perception was shown. This implies possible participation of pheromones that should be verified in future researches. Also, with the same aim we have performed the screening of our collection of mutants carrying random autosomal insertions of PdLtransposon. Five candidate genes playing role in behavioral modifications resulted from social experience were revealed (Dek, Hel89B, RpL41, CG11791 and NaCP60E). The results imply particularly an important role of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in modification of locomotor behavior caused by social experience.