Abdominal-B Neurons Control Drosophila Virgin Female Receptivity
Abdominal-B Neurons Control Drosophila Virgin Female Receptivity
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.011
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发表时间：
2014-07-21
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Vosshall, Leslie B.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bussell, Jennifer J.;Yapici, Nilay;Vosshall, Leslie B.
背景：女性的性接受能力为复杂的行为决策提供了一个很好的模型。雌性必须分析自己的生殖状态、外部环境和雄性的感官线索，以决定是否交配。在黑腹果蝇中，处女雌性的感受性相对较少受到关注，其神经回路和个体行为成分仍然未被映射。使用全基因组神经元RNAi筛选，我们确定了一个负责暂停的神经元亚群，这是本研究中处女女性接受性的一个新的行为方面。结果如下：我们表明，Abdominal-B（Abd-B）是一种同源盒转录因子，是处女雌性高水平感受性神经元发育所必需的。沉默成年Abd-B神经元显着降低感受性。我们的特点是两个组成部分的感受性，引起性成熟的女性男性求爱：暂停和阴道板打开。沉默Abd-B神经元减少停顿，但不影响阴道板开放，表明这两个组成部分的女性性行为是功能上分离的。合成激活的Abd-B神经元增加停顿，但男性求偶歌曲本身是不足以引起这种行为。结论：我们的研究结果提供了一个切入点的神经回路控制处女女性的感受性。雌性在交配前整合来自雄性的多种感觉线索来执行离散的运动程序。Abd-B神经元控制停顿，这是女性性接受性的一个关键方面，以响应男性求爱。
Background: Female sexual receptivity offers an excellent model for complex behavioral decisions. The female must parse her own reproductive state, the external environment, and male sensory cues to decide whether to copulate. In the fly Drosophila melanogaster, virgin female receptivity has received relatively little attention, and its neural circuitry and individual behavioral components remain unmapped. Using a genome-wide neuronal RNAi screen, we identify a subpopulation of neurons responsible for pausing, a novel behavioral aspect of virgin female receptivity characterized in this study. Results: We show that Abdominal-B (Abd-B), a homeobox transcription factor, is required in developing neurons for high levels of virgin female receptivity. Silencing adult Abd-B neurons significantly decreased receptivity. We characterize two components of receptivity that are elicited in sexually mature females by male courtship: pausing and vaginal plate opening. Silencing Abd-B neurons decreased pausing but did not affect vaginal plate opening, demonstrating that these two components of female sexual behavior are functionally separable. Synthetic activation of Abd-B neurons increased pausing, but male courtship song alone was not sufficient to elicit this behavior. Conclusions: Our results provide an entry point to the neural circuit controlling virgin female receptivity. The female integrates multiple sensory cues from the male to execute discrete motor programs prior to copulation. Abd-B neurons control pausing, a key aspect of female sexual receptivity, in response to male courtship.