Keesey Ian W, Doll Georg, Chakraborty Sudeshna Das, Baschwitz Amelie, Lemoine Marion, Kaltenpoth Martin, Svatoš Aleš, Sachse Silke, Knaden Markus, Hansson Bill S
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Research Group Olfactory Coding, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, D-07745 Jena, Germany.
Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 4;11(14):eadi9683. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi9683. Epub 2025 Apr 2.
Attraction of toward by-products of alcoholic fermentation, especially ethanol, has been extensively studied. Previous research has provided several interpretations of this attraction, including potential drug abuse, or a self-medicating coping strategy after mate rejection. We posit that the ecologically adaptive value of alcohol attraction has not been fully explored. Here, we assert a simple yet vital biological rationale for this alcohol preference. Flies display attraction to fruits rich in alcohol, specifically ethanol and methanol, where contact results in a rapid amplification of fatty acid-derived pheromones that enhance courtship success. We also identify olfactory sensory neurons that detect these alcohols, where we reveal roles in both attraction and aversion, and show that valence is balanced around alcohol concentration. Moreover, we demonstrate that methanol can be deadly, and adult flies must therefore accurately weigh the trade-off between benefits and costs for exposure within their naturally fermented and alcohol-rich environments.
果蝇对酒精发酵副产物，尤其是乙醇的趋向性已得到广泛研究。先前的研究对这种趋向性提出了几种解释，包括潜在的药物滥用，或在配偶拒绝后的一种自我药物治疗应对策略。我们认为酒精趋向性的生态适应价值尚未得到充分探索。在此，我们提出一个关于这种酒精偏好的简单却至关重要的生物学原理。果蝇对富含酒精的水果表现出趋向性，特别是乙醇和甲醇，接触这些水果会导致脂肪酸衍生信息素迅速放大，从而提高求偶成功率。我们还鉴定出了检测这些酒精的嗅觉感觉神经元，揭示了它们在吸引和厌恶方面的作用，并表明在酒精浓度周围效价是平衡的。此外，我们证明甲醇可能是致命的，因此成年果蝇必须在其自然发酵且富含酒精的环境中准确权衡接触酒精的利弊。
