Krstic Dimitrije, Boll Werner, Noll Markus
Institute for Molecular Biology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2009;4(2):e4457. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004457. Epub 2009 Feb 13.
The courtship behavior of Drosophila melanogaster serves as an excellent model system to study how complex innate behaviors are controlled by the nervous system. To understand how the underlying neural network controls this behavior, it is not sufficient to unravel its architecture, but also crucial to decipher its logic. By systematic analysis of how variations in sensory inputs alter the courtship behavior of a naïve male in the single-choice courtship paradigm, we derive a model describing the logic of the network that integrates the various sensory stimuli and elicits this complex innate behavior. This approach and the model derived from it distinguish (i) between initiation and maintenance of courtship, (ii) between courtship in daylight and in the dark, where the male uses a scanning strategy to retrieve the decamping female, and (iii) between courtship towards receptive virgin females and mature males. The last distinction demonstrates that sexual orientation of the courting male, in the absence of discriminatory visual cues, depends on the integration of gustatory and behavioral feedback inputs, but not on olfactory signals from the courted animal. The model will complement studies on the connectivity and intrinsic properties of the neurons forming the circuitry that regulates male courtship behavior.
黑腹果蝇的求偶行为是研究复杂的先天行为如何由神经系统控制的优秀模型系统。为了理解潜在的神经网络如何控制这种行为，仅仅揭示其结构是不够的，解读其逻辑也至关重要。通过系统分析在单选择求偶范式中感觉输入的变化如何改变未成熟雄性的求偶行为，我们得出了一个描述整合各种感觉刺激并引发这种复杂先天行为的网络逻辑的模型。这种方法及其衍生的模型区分了：（i）求偶行为的启动和维持；（ii）白天和黑暗中的求偶行为，在黑暗中雄性使用扫描策略找回离开的雌性；以及（iii）对接受求偶的未交配雌性和成熟雄性的求偶行为。最后一个区别表明，在没有歧视性视觉线索的情况下，求偶雄性的性取向取决于味觉和行为反馈输入的整合，而不取决于来自求偶对象的嗅觉信号。该模型将补充对构成调节雄性求偶行为回路的神经元的连接性和内在特性的研究。
