The Role of miRNAs inDrosophila melanogasterMale Courtship Behavior

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster courtship, although stereotypical, continually changes based on cues received from the courtship subject. Such adaptive responses are mediated via rapid and widespread transcriptomic reprogramming, a characteristic now widely attributed to microRNAs (miRNAs), along with other players. Here, we conducted a large-scale miRNA knockout screen to identify miRNAs that affect various parameters of male courtship behavior. Apart from identifying miRNAs that impact male–female courtship, we observed that miR-957 mutants performed significantly increased male–male courtship and “chaining” behavior, whereby groups of males court one another. We tested the effect of miR-957 reduction in specific neuronal cell clusters, identifying miR-957 activity in Doublesex (DSX)-expressing and mushroom body clusters as an important regulator of male–male courtship interactions. We further characterized the behavior of miR-957 mutants and found that these males court male subjects vigorously, but do not elicit courtship. Moreover, they fail to lower courtship efforts toward females with higher levels of antiaphrodisiac pheromones. At the level of individual pheromones, miR-957 males show a reduced inhibitory response to both 7-Tricosene (7-T) and cis-vaccenyl acetate, with the effect being more pronounced in the case of 7-T. Overall, our results indicate that a single miRNA can contribute to the regulation of complex behaviors, including detection or processing of chemicals that control important survival strategies such as chemical mate-guarding, and the maintenance of sex- and species-specific courtship barriers.

Emergence of consistent intra-individual locomotor patterns during zebrafish development

“…Besides genetic diversity, developmental 50,51 , maternal 52,53 and epigenetic effects 41,54,55 , as well as social interactions 56 , are all thought to contribute to such variation. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown to play a role in regulating some behaviors in Drosophila 57–59 and zebrafish 60 , potentially providing another source of behavioral variation. Despite this, variation among individuals is often overlooked when behavior is quantified as averages with associated distributions 24,27–30 .…”

MicroRNA-Dependent Control of Sensory Neuron Function Regulates Posture Behavior in Drosophila

“…Previous work showed that miR-263b plays an important role in the Drosophila peripheral nervous system, where it forms part of a gene regulatory pathway that represses apoptosis during sense organ development (Hilgers, et al 2010); other studies report that downregulation or mutation of miR-263b lead to distortions of adult locomotion patterns (Donelson, et al, 2020) or affects stereotypical parameters of male-female courtship (Iftikhar et al, 2019), respectively.…”

Noncoding RNAs: Emerging regulators of behavioral complexity

“…miRNA locus miR‐iab 4/8, along with the Hox gene Ultrabithorax, has been reported to affect the self‐righting behavior in the morphologically distinct larval as well as adult stages of Drosophila melanogaster (Issa et al, 2019; Picao‐Osorio et al, 2015). miRNAs also regulate many larval neuronal functions and dynamically complex male courtship behaviors in Drosophila (Iftikhar et al, 2019; Klann et al, 2021). Several studies report miRNAs, including miR‐323a, miR‐26a‐3p, miR‐34, miR‐135a, and miR‐101a, which target mRNAs functioning in different brain regions, affecting pathways culminating in anxiety or depression‐like symptoms in model organisms (Cohen et al, 2017; Fiori et al, 2021; Haramati et al, 2011; Li et al, 2021; Mannironi et al, 2018).…”