Genetic control of courtship behavior in the housefly: evidence for a conserved bifurcation of the sex-determining pathway.

ABSTRACT: In Drosophila melanogaster, genes of the sex-determination hierarchy orchestrate the development and differentiation of sex-specific tissues, establishing sex-specific physiology and neural circuitry. One of these sex-determination genes, fruitless (fru), plays a key role in the formation of neural circuits underlying Drosophila male courtship behavior. Conservation of fru gene structure and sex-specific expression has been found in several insect orders, though it is still to be determined whether a male courtship role for the gene is employed in these species due to the lack of mutants and homologous experimental evidence. We have isolated the fru ortholog (Md-fru) from the common housefly, Musca domestica, and show the gene's conserved genomic structure. We demonstrate that male-specifi

SUBMITTER: Meier N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3632534 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature