Changes in the cellular makeup of motor patterning circuits drive courtship song evolution in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: How evolutionary changes in genes and neurons encode species variation in complex motor behaviors is largely unknown. Here, we develop genetic tools that permit a neural circuit comparison between the model species Drosophila melanogaster and the closely related species D. yakuba, which has undergone a lineage-specific loss of sine song, one of the two major types of male courtship song in Drosophila. Neuroanatomical comparison of song-patterning neurons called TN1 across the phylogeny demonstrates a link between the loss of sine song and a reduction both in the number of TN1 neurons and the neurites supporting the sine circuit connectivity. Optogenetic activation confirms that TN1 neurons in D. yakuba have lost the ability to drive sine song, although they have maintained the ability to d

SUBMITTER: Ye D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11153019 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature