| PubMed Abstract |
Male-male courtship behavior was recently reported to be induced in large populations of Drosophila (e.g., 600-1500 flies)
by ectopic expression of the white (w) gene. Little is known about the basis of this behavior; in male-female courtship, sensory
cues are believed to play an important role. Previous data are consistent with the possibility that misexpression of w causes
abnormal reception or processing of sensory information. We show here that w-induced male-male courtship occurs in isolated
pairs of flies. Thus the behavior does not depend on sensory cues found only among large populations of flies, or on cues
produced only by a small subset of such populations. This finding enabled quantitative analysis of mechanisms that underlie
the behavior. Specifically, male-male courtship does not depend on the reception of olfactory information, nor on the reception
or generation of auditory cues, as determined by surgical ablation of antennae, maxillary palps, or wings. Although the rapid
onset of the behavior following w induction suggested that its basis could lie in a modulation of sensory physiology, we found
visual, olfactory, and gustatory function to be normal in physiological or behavioral tests. The only sensory deprivation
to produce an effect on male-male courtship was testing under dim red light; the percentage of flies courting another male
was reduced to one-fourth of control values. A striking age dependence of the behavior is also documented: courtship between
paired male mini-w+ flies was not observed in tests of very young (1-day-old) flies, but occurs at high levels between the
ages of 1 and 4 weeks.
|
Home
Associated Information