A neuropeptide regulates fighting behavior in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32314736.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.54229 and PMC identifier 7173970.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Aggressive behavior is regulated by various neuromodulators such as neuropeptides and biogenic amines. Here we found that the neuropeptide <i>Drosulfakinin (Dsk</i>) modulates aggression in <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>. Knock-out of <i>Dsk</i> or <i>Dsk</i> receptor <i>CCKLR-17D1</i> reduced aggression. Activation and inactivation of Dsk-expressing neurons increased and decreased male aggressive behavior, respectively. Moreover, data from transsynaptic tracing, electrophysiology and behavioral epistasis reveal that Dsk-expressing neurons function downstream of a subset of P1 neurons (<i>P1<sup>a</sup>-splitGAL4</i>) to control fighting behavior. In addition, winners show increased calcium activity in Dsk-expressing neurons. Conditional overexpression of Dsk promotes social dominance, suggesting a positive correlation between Dsk signaling and winning effects. The mammalian ortholog CCK has been implicated in mammal aggression, thus our work suggests a conserved neuromodulatory system for the modulation of aggressive behavior.
Medical subject headings
- Aggression
- Behavior, Animal
- Drosophila Proteins
- Neurons
- Neuropeptides