Ishida Group of Clock Genes, Institute for Biomedical Research, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan.
Genes Cells. 2010 Dec;15(12):1240-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2443.2010.01456.x. Epub 2010 Nov 9.
Circadian clocks of Drosophila melanogaster motivate males to court females at a specific time of day. However, clock neurons involved in courtship rhythms in the brain of Drosophila remain totally unknown. The circadian locomotor behavior of Drosophila is controlled by morning (M cells) and evening (E cells) cells in the brain, which regulate morning and evening activities, respectively. Here, we identified the brain clock neurons that are responsible for the circadian rhythms of the close-proximity (CP) behavior that reflects male courtship motivation. Interestingly, the ablation or functional molecular clock disruption of E cells caused arrhythmic CP behavior, but that of M cells resulted in sustained CP rhythms even in constant darkness. In addition, the ablation of some dorsal lateral neurons (LNd) of E cells using neuropeptide-F (NPF)-GAL4 did not impair CP rhythms. These findings suggested that the NPF-negative LNds and DN1s of E cells include cells essential for circadian CP behavior in Drosophila.
果蝇的生物钟促使雄性在一天中的特定时间向雌性求爱。然而，果蝇大脑中参与求爱节律的时钟神经元仍然完全未知。果蝇的昼夜节律运动行为由大脑中的晨（M 细胞）和晚（E 细胞）细胞控制，分别调节早晨和晚上的活动。在这里，我们确定了负责近距离（CP）行为的昼夜节律的脑时钟神经元，CP 行为反映了雄性求偶的动机。有趣的是，E 细胞的消融或功能分子钟破坏导致 CP 行为失去节律，但 M 细胞的消融则导致 CP 节律持续存在，即使在持续黑暗中也是如此。此外，使用神经肽-F（NPF）-GAL4 消融 E 细胞的一些背外侧神经元（LNd）并不会损害 CP 节律。这些发现表明，E 细胞中的 NPF 阴性 LNd 和 DN1s 包括果蝇昼夜 CP 行为所必需的细胞。
