SOLVIN ZANKLResearchers have accumulated detailed knowledge of the neurons that drive male fruit flies’ mating behaviors. But the neurons that prompt females to respond—or not—to male overtures have been less-studied. Three papers published today (July 2) in Neuron and Current Biology begin to change that. They identify sets of neurons in female fruit flies that help process mating signals, modulate the insects’ receptivity to male courtship, and drive mating behavior.
“These three groups independently identified important neuronal groups [that] are positioned in different points in the neuronal circuitry for regulating female receptivity,” said Daisuke Yamamoto, a behavioral geneticist at Tohoku University in Japan who was not involved in any of the studies.
“We’ve had access to the male circuitry for a while now, and that’s turning out to be a really interesting way to study how behavior works,” said Jennifer Bussell, whose work as a PhD student at Rockefeller University contributed to the Current Biology paper. “Having that complementary circuit in the female can only provide more fodder for interesting experiments.”
Female fruit flies’ mating behaviors depend on their reproductive state. They become receptive to mating as they mature, but become less receptive to males’ ...
