FB2025_05 , released December 11, 2025
FB2025_05 , released December 11, 2025
CV Term Report
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General Information
Term adult vaginal plate opening descending neuron vpoDN ID (Ontology) FBbt:00048405 (Fly Anatomy)
Definition Doublesex-expressing descending neuron, specific to the adult female, with its cell body in the posterior medial protocerebrum, ventral to the pC1 cluster (Kimura et al., 2015; Sturner et al., 2024). There is one of these cells per hemisphere, it is cholinergic, and its activity stimulates vaginal plate opening (Wang et al., 2021). Its dendrites arborize in the superior lateral protocerebrum and its axons project to multiple regions of the ventral nerve cord, including the abdominal ganglion (Wang et al., 2021). It receives input from the pulse song-responsive (inhibitory) vpoINs and (excitatory) vpoENs (Wang et al., 2021), and it is activated in response to conspecific male pulse song (Deutsch et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2021). It also receives input from the pC1 cells, which convey mating status information and increase the excitability of pMN2 (Wang et al., 2021).[ FlyBase:FBrf0228365 FlyBase:FBrf0243715 FlyBase:FBrf0247919 ]
Also Known As "adult descending neuron of the posterior brain DNp37" ; "adult doublesex pMN2 (female) neuron" ; "doublesex-expressing posterior Medial Neuron 2" (for all, see Synonyms field below)
Comment Robinett et al. (2010) - FBrf0210735 state that pMN2 cells are not sexually dimorphic. Kimura et al. (2015) show that these neurons are gender-specific, with males having what they refer to as pMN3 neurons and females having what they refer to as pMN2 in a similar location. These are different cells, as genetic manipulations can result in both cell types being present in one fly (Kimura et al., 2015). These (DNp37) cells are also missing from MANC (Sturner et al., 2024). Thought to be involved in oviposition based on correlation with non-specific activation in Kimura et al. (2015), but shown to be involved in vaginal plate opening by more specific activation in Wang et al. (2021).
Links to External Ontologies
VFB:FBbt_00048405
Annotations
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Data Class Field Records
Alleles (FBal)  PHENOTYPE_MANIFEST_IN       4
Insertions (FBti)  EXPRESSION_STAGE_TISSUE_POSITION       1
Constructs (FBtp)  PHENOTYPE_MANIFEST_IN       1
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Relevant FlyBase reports
 Alleles  Insertions Constructs
 adult vaginal plate opening descending neuron vpoDN (all annotations which use CV term, excluding "NOT" statements)       4      3      1      7
     adult vaginal plate opening descending neuron vpoDN | ectopic | male limited       4       --       --       1
Spanning Tree (Parents/Children)
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cholinergic neuron
 |__adult cholinergic neuron__________________
adult neuron                                  |
 |__adult cholinergic neuron__________________|
adult doublesex neuron                        |
 |__adult brain doublesex neuron______________|
adult descending neuron                       |
 |__descending neuron of the posterior brain__|
female-specific anatomical entity             |
 |__female-specific neuron____________________|
sexually-dimorphic neuron                     |
 |__female-specific neuron____________________|
adult CNS neuron                              |
 |__descending neuron of the posterior brain__|
 |__adult brain doublesex neuron______________|
                                              adult vaginal plate opening descending neuron vpoDN  15 rec.
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Is a descending neuron of the posterior brain
female-specific neuron
adult brain doublesex neuron
adult cholinergic neuron
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VFB:FBbt_00048405