研究揭示果蠅雌性交配的神經迴路機制
作者：
小柯機器人發布時間：2020/11/27 13:26:50
美國霍華德·休斯醫學研究所Barry J. Dickson研究組近日取得一項新成果。他們揭示了果蠅雌性交配的神經迴路機制。2020年11月25日出版的《自然》雜誌發表了這項成果。
他們描述了在果蠅大腦中執行交配決策的神經迴路。他們顯示陰道板開口（VPO）由一對雌性特定的降序神經元（vpoDNs）控制。vpoDNs從聽覺神經元（vpoENs）和pC1神經元收到刺激性輸入，聽覺神經元被調節到果蠅歌曲的特定特徵，而pC1神經元編碼了雌性的交配狀態。交配時，vpoDN而不是vpoEN的歌曲響應減弱，這說明交配雌性的接受能力降低。這種調節是由pC1神經元介導的。因此，vpoDN直接整合控制果蠅雌性交配決定的外部和內部信號。
據介紹，擇偶是雌性一生中最重要的決定之一。雌蠅通過打開陰道板來表示願意交配，允許配對雄性交配。VPO響應於雄性求愛歌曲而發生，並且取決於女性的交配狀態。這些外部感受性（歌曲）和感知性（交配狀態）輸入如何集成以調節VPO仍然未知。
附：英文原文
Title: Neural circuit mechanisms of sexual receptivity in Drosophila females
Author: Kaiyu Wang, Fei Wang, Nora Forknall, Tansy Yang, Christopher Patrick, Ruchi Parekh, Barry J. Dickson
Issue&Volume: 2020-11-25
Abstract: Choosing a mate is one of the most consequential decisions a female will make during her lifetime. A female fly signals her willingness to mate by opening her vaginal plates, allowing a courting male to copulate1,2. Vaginal plate opening (VPO) occurs in response to the male courtship song and is dependent on the mating status of the female. How these exteroceptive (song) and interoceptive (mating status) inputs are integrated to regulate VPO remains unknown. Here we characterize the neural circuitry that implements mating decisions in the brain of female Drosophila melanogaster. We show that VPO is controlled by a pair of female-specific descending neurons (vpoDNs). The vpoDNs receive excitatory input from auditory neurons (vpoENs), which are tuned to specific features of the D. melanogaster song, and from pC1 neurons, which encode the mating status of the female3,4. The song responses of vpoDNs, but not vpoENs, are attenuated upon mating, accounting for the reduced receptivity of mated females. This modulation is mediated by pC1 neurons. The vpoDNs thus directly integrate the external and internal signals that control the mating decisions of Drosophila females. In Drosophila melanogaster, female mating decisions are governed by female-specific descending neurons that integrate input from auditory neurons that respond to features of the song of a conspecific male and central neurons that encode the mating status of the female.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2972-7
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2972-7