Ancestral neural circuits potentiate the origin of a female sexual behavior.

ABSTRACT: Courtship interactions are remarkably diverse in form and complexity among species. How neural circuits evolve to encode new behaviors that are functionally integrated into these dynamic social interactions is unknown. Here we report a recently originated female sexual behavior in the island endemic Drosophila species D. santomea, where females signal receptivity to male courtship songs by spreading their wings, which in turn promotes prolonged songs in courting males. Copulation success depends on this female signal and correlates with males' ability to adjust his singing in such a social feedback loop. Functional comparison of sexual circuitry across species suggests that a pair of descending neurons, which integrates male song stimuli and female internal state to control a

SUBMITTER: Li M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10723342 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature