Neurons Underlying Aggression-Like Actions That Are Shared by Both Males and Females in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Aggression involves both sexually monomorphic and dimorphic actions. How the brain implements these two types of actions is poorly understood. We found that in Drosophila melanogaster, a set of neurons, which we call CL062, previously shown to mediate male aggression also mediate female aggression. These neurons elicit aggression acutely and without the presence of a target. Although the same set of actions is elicited in males and females, the overall behavior is sexually dimorphic. The CL062 neurons do not express fruitless, a gene required for sexual dimorphism in flies, and expressed by most other neurons important for controlling fly aggression. Connectomic analysis in a female electron microscopy dataset suggests that these neurons have limited connections with fruit

SUBMITTER: Tao L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11529818 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature