The experience-dependent mechanism for sexual orientation in Drosophila

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21H04790
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 46:Neuroscience and related fields
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
• Principal Investigator: YAMAMOTO Daisuke 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 未来ICT研究所神戸フロンティア研究センター, 室長 (50318812)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-05 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 神経可塑性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

satori mutants of Drosophila melanogaster are known to show enhanced male-male courtship when group housed. Indeed, deprivation of social interactions suppressed this same sex courtship behavior. Electrophysiological recordings from the courtship triggering P1 neurons in the fly brain revealed that transient K+ currents were markedly enhanced by group housing. Comparative transcriptome of P1 enriched preparations with a sensitive TRAP technique identified some social interaction-sensitive genes, which included those encoding the Sh K+ channel subunit and its associated binding protein. These findings collectively suggest that the ion channel activities in P1 neurons are modulated by social experience, and the modulated state may sustains for stable expression of the behavioral characteristic.

Free Research Field

神経遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

性指向性を決定する要因の理解では「遺伝」か「環境」か、という単純な二分律ではなく、遺伝と環境の相互作用こそ重要である、との認識に生物学的根拠を与える研究成果と考えている。遺伝と環境の相互作用、という概念の実体として、行動を生み出す個々のニューロンに刻印される分子的変化を提示することは、不毛の論争に終止符を打ち、行動変容の一般的機構の解明に、確固とした道筋をつけることでもある。その意味では、モデル生物を用いた本研究成果は、大きな説得力を持ちうるものと確信する。