Acebes Angel, Grosjean Yael, Everaerts Claude, Ferveur Jean-François
Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones ciéntificas, Madrid 28002, Spain.
Curr Biol. 2004 Apr 20;14(8):704-10. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2004.04.003.
In many animal species, copulation involves the coordinated release of both sperm and seminal fluid, including substances that change female fertility and postmating behavior. In Drosophila melanogaster, these substances increase female fertility and prevent mating with a second male. By using a PGal4 strain, we targeted together with other cells a dozen cholinergic neurons found only in the male abdominal ganglion (Abg-MAch). Genetic feminization apparently deleted these neurons in males and significantly increased their copulation duration, blocked their fertility in 60% of cases, and only weakly repressed remating in females. Genetic repression of Gal4 activity in all cholinergic neurons completely rescued copulation duration and fertility, and totally prevented remating, indicating that Abg-MAch neurons were functional. The conditional blocking of the synaptic activity of these neurons during copulation induced separate effects on the transfer of the seminal substances involved in fertilization and those involved in remating. These effects were dissociated only when Abg-MAch neurons were feminized, indicating that their presence is required to synchronize the emission of the male substance(s) that changes reproductive behaviors.
在许多动物物种中，交配涉及精子和精液的协同释放，精液中包含改变雌性生育能力和交配后行为的物质。在黑腹果蝇中，这些物质可提高雌性生育能力，并防止其与第二只雄性果蝇交配。通过使用一种PGal4品系，我们与其他细胞一起靶向了仅在雄性腹神经节（Abg-MAch）中发现的十几个胆碱能神经元。基因雌性化明显使雄性果蝇中的这些神经元缺失，并显著延长了它们的交配持续时间，在60%的情况下阻碍了它们的生育能力，且对雌性果蝇再次交配的抑制作用较弱。在所有胆碱能神经元中对Gal4活性进行基因抑制完全恢复了交配持续时间和生育能力，并完全阻止了再次交配，这表明Abg-MAch神经元是有功能的。在交配过程中有条件地阻断这些神经元的突触活动，对参与受精的精液物质和参与再次交配的精液物质的传递产生了不同的影响。只有当Abg-MAch神经元雌性化时，这些影响才会分离，这表明它们的存在对于同步改变生殖行为的雄性物质的释放是必需的。
