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Social structures depend on innate determinants and chemosensory processing in Drosophila
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109
- Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Flies display transient social interactions in groups. However, whether fly–fly interactions are stochastic or structured remains unknown. We hypothesized that groups of flies exhibit patterns of social dynamics that would manifest as nonrandom social interaction networks. To test this, we applied a machine vision system to track the position and orientation of flies in an arena and designed a classifier to detect interactions between pairs of flies. We show that the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster , forms nonrandom social interaction networks, distinct from virtual network controls (constructed from the intersections of individual locomotor trajectories). In addition, the formation of interaction networks depends on chemosensory cues. Gustatory mutants form networks that cannot be distinguished from their virtual network controls. Olfactory mutants form networks that are greatly disrupted compared with control flies. Different wild-type strains form social interaction networks with quantitatively different properties, suggesting that the genes that influence this network phenotype vary across and within wild-type populations. We have established a paradigm for studying social behaviors at a group level in Drosophila and expect that a genetic dissection of this phenomenon will identify conserved molecular mechanisms of social organization in other species.
- Subjects :
- Male
Biology
Models, Biological
Animals, Genetically Modified
Animals
Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergartners Sackler Colloquium
Social organization
Social Behavior
Virtual network
Communication
Multidisciplinary
Behavior, Animal
business.industry
fungi
biology.organism_classification
Phenotype
Social relation
Chemoreceptor Cells
Smell
Social dynamics
Drosophila melanogaster
Evolutionary biology
Mutation
Female
business
Social structure
Social behavior
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490
- Volume :
- 109
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....db04b302024214c599e6d31b2f3ddd63