Mate copying requires the coincidence detector Rutabaga in the mushroom bodies of Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Mate choice constitutes a major fitness-affecting decision often involving social learning leading to copying the preference of other individuals (i.e., mate copying). While mate copying exists in many taxa, its underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain virtually unknown. Here, we show in Drosophila melanogaster that the rutabaga gene is necessary to support mate copying. Rutabaga encodes an adenylyl cyclase (AC-Rut⁺) acting as a coincidence detector in associative learning. Since the brain localization requirements for AC-Rut⁺ expression differ in classical and operant learning, we determine the functional localization of AC-Rut⁺ for mate copying by artificially rescuing the expression of AC-Rut⁺ in neural subsets of a

SUBMITTER: Nobel S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10484988 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature