The role offruitlessin specifying courtship behaviors differs acrossDrosophilaspecies

Abstract

Sex-specific behaviors are critical for reproduction and species survival. The sex-specifically spliced transcription factorfruitless(fru) helps establish male courtship behaviors in invertebrates. Forcing male-specificfru(fruM) splicing inDrosophila melanogasterfemales produces male-typical behaviors, while disrupting female-specific behaviors. However, whetherfru’s joint role in specifying male and inhibiting female behaviors is conserved across species is unknown. We used CRISPR/Cas9 to force FruM expression in femaleD. virilis, a species in which males and females produce sex-specific songs. In contrast toD. melanogaster, in which onefruMallele is sufficient to generate male behaviors in females, two alleles are needed inD. virilisfemales.D. virilisfemales expressing FruM maintain the ability to sing female-typical song as well as lay eggs, whereasD. melanogasterFruM females cannot lay eggs. These results reveal important differences infrufunction between divergent species and underscore the importance of studying diverse behaviors and species for understanding the genetic basis of sex differences.

A chromosome-level genome assembly ofDrosophila madeirensis, a fruit fly species endemic to the island of Madeira

“…The genus Drosophila contains over 1,600 species (O'Grady and DeSalle 2018) , which are highly divergent in morphology and behavior (Kopp et al 2000;Prud'homme et al 2006;Tanaka et al 2009;Baker et al 2023). Among these, D.…”