INC

Innate Neuronal Circuits

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Animals exhibit behavioral repertoires that are often innate and result in stereotyped sexual and social responses to their environment. Sexual behaviors represent a robust set of innate responses. Genetic studies in Drosophila strongly imply the FruM, a male-specific isoform of the fruitless gene in programming male courtship. The circuit of female behavior on the other has been largely uncharacterized. Here I propose to identify and characterize the neurons involved in female receptivity. I will follow two independent yet complementary approaches: 1) I will use a laser guided neuronal tracing procedure together with electrophysiology to follow to higher order neurons the circuit for sensing the male pheromone cisvaccenyl acetate. cisvaccenyl acetate sensing has common properties at the sensory level in males and females yet it generates different behaviors; 2) I will perform a behavioral screen of lines of flies with different subsets of neurons inhibited for their activity. Once I identify the lines that have a behavioral effect, I will characterize the anatomy, function and connectivity of the subsets of neurons marked in the selected lines. This will be facilitated by the fact these lines allow access to genetic manipulation specifically in the defined subsets of neurons. With this work I expect to contribute to a comprehensive view of the circuits for female sexual behavior. It will allow to determine how much commonality is there between the male and female brain and more importantly to identify general neuronal architectures that guide behavior.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Innate behaviour in animals (such as sexual activity) is usually linked to hard-wired neuronal circuits in the brain. Researchers have examined the circuits associated with female fruit fly sexual responses to males.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Previous work in fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) identified specific genes and neuronal circuits that control sexual behaviour in males, but not in females. Now, as part of the EU-funded 'Innate neuronal circuits' (INC) project researchers have identified the neurons that signal female receptiveness to male sexual advances.

The project used a method called laser-guided neuronal tracing to follow the circuits in the female brain that sense the male sexual pheromone cisvaccenyl acetate. INC researchers identified one specific neuronal pathway that was always labeled.

Another aspect of the project blocked different neuronal circuits to see the effect on female behaviour. This has expanded their knowledge of the role of specific circuits on receptivity to male courtship.

In addition to producing knowledge about neuronal circuits in female fruit flies, INC has selected a collection of fruit fly lines that genetically label neurons involved in female receptivity. This contributes to the overall study of fruit fly genetics and physiology.