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fruitless tunes functional flexibility of courtship circuitry during development.
- Source :
-
eLife . 2/4/2021, p1-16. 16p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Drosophila male courtship is controlled by the male-specific products of the fruitless (fruM) gene and its expressing neuronal circuitry. fruM is considered a master gene that controls all aspects of male courtship. By temporally and spatially manipulating fruM expression, we found that fruM is required during a critical developmental period for innate courtship toward females, while its function during adulthood is involved in inhibiting male-male courtship. By altering or eliminating fruM expression, we generated males that are innately heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or without innate courtship but could acquire such behavior in an experience-dependent manner. These findings show that fruM is not absolutely necessary for courtship but is critical during development to build a sex circuitry with reduced flexibility and enhanced efficiency, and provide a new view about how fruM tunes functional flexibility of a sex circuitry instead of switching on its function as conventionally viewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *COURTSHIP
*NEURAL circuitry
*DROSOPHILA
*ADULTS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2050084X
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- eLife
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 152065162
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59224