| Title: | A novel sex difference in Drosophila contact chemosensory neurons unveiled using single cell labeling |
| Author(s): | Kimura KI; Urushizaki A; Sato C; Yamamoto D; |
| Address: | "a Laboratory of Biology , Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo Campus , Sapporo , Japan. b Neuro-Network Evolution Project, Advanced ICT Research Institute , National Institute of Information and Communications Technology , Kobe , Japan" |
| DOI: | 10.1080/01677063.2018.1531858 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1563-5260 (Electronic) 0167-7063 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Among the sensory modalities involved in controlling mating behavior in Drosophila melanogaster, contact sex pheromones play a primary role. The key receptor neurons for contact sex pheromones are located on the forelegs, which are activated in males upon touching the female abdomen during tapping events in courtship actions. A fruitless (fru)-positive (fru [+]) male-pheromone sensing cell (M-cell) and a fru [+] female-pheromone sensing cell (F-cell) are paired in a sensory bristle on the legs, and some fru [+] chemoreceptor axons project across the midline in the thoracic neuromere in males but not in females. However, the receptor cells that form sexually dimorphic axon terminals in the thoracic ganglia remain unknown. By generating labeled single-cell clones, we show that only a specific subset of fru [+] chemosensory neurons have axons that cross the midline in males. We further demonstrate that there exist two male-specific bristles, each harboring two chemosensory neurons; neither of which exhibits midline crossing, a masculine characteristic. This study reveals hitherto unrecognized sex differences in chemosensory neurons, imposing us to reinvestigate the pheromone input pathways that impinge on the central courtship circuit" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Chemoreceptor Cells/*cytology Drosophila melanogaster/*cytology/*physiology Female Ganglia, Invertebrate/*cytology Male *Sex Characteristics Marcm Sexual dimorphism gustatory neurons pheromone reception sensory bristles;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineKimura, Ken-Ichi Urushizaki, Akira Sato, Chiaki Yamamoto, Daisuke eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/11/21 J Neurogenet. 2019 Mar-Jun; 33(2):116-124. doi: 10.1080/01677063.2018.1531858. Epub 2018 Nov 20" |
