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Journal article
Neurons underlying aggression-like actions that are shared by both males and females in Drosophila
The Journal of neuroscience, v 44(44), e0142242024
24 Sep 2024
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Aggression involves both sexually monomorphic and dimorphic actions. How the brain implements these two types of actions is poorly understood. We found that in Drosophila melanogaster a set of neurons, which we call CL062, previously shown to mediate male aggression also mediate female aggression. These neurons elicit aggression acutely and without the presence of a target. Although the same set of actions is elicited in males and females, the overall behavior is sexually dimorphic. The CL062 neurons do not express fruitless, a gene required for sexual dimorphism in flies, and expressed by most other neurons important for controlling fly aggression. Connectomic analysis in a female electron microscopy dataset suggests that these neurons have limited connections with fruitless expressing neurons that have been shown to be important for aggression, and signal to different descending neurons. Thus, CL062 is part of a monomorphic circuit for aggression that functions parallel to the known dimorphic circuits. Significance Statement Aggression is an important component of social interaction in most animals. Aggressive behavior serve a critical purpose by helping an animal secure territory, mates or food. Aggressive behaviors are very diverse in both their goals and their target. However, most studies aimed at uncovering neural circuits important for aggression have found circuits that are sexually dimorphic and are either only present in either male or female or only produce aggression in one. In this study, using Drosophila as a model, we report that a small set of neurons, when activated, produce aggressive behaviors in both males and females. We also show that these neurons are not strongly connected to other aggression promoting neurons implying that many parallel pathways mediate aggression.
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Details
- Title
- Neurons underlying aggression-like actions that are shared by both males and females in Drosophila
- Creators
- Liangyu Tao - Drexel UniversityDeven Ayembem - Swarthmore CollegeVictor J. Barranca - Swarthmore CollegeVikas Bhandawat (Corresponding Author) - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- The Journal of neuroscience, v 44(44), e0142242024
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience; WASHINGTON
- Number of pages
- 29
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science, and Health Systems
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001350751500002
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85208204033
- Other Identifier
- 991021904280104721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences