Deciphering pleiotropy: How complex genes regulate behavior

The genetic underpinnings of animal behavior are exceedingly complex. Behavioral phenotypes are commonly regulated by many genes, and the behavioral effects of a gene often dependent on environmental conditions and genetic background. To complicate the study of behavioral genetics further, many genes that regulate behavioral phenotypes are themselves very complex genes, with several gene products and functions. One example of such a complex gene is the foraging gene in D. melanogaster. foraging influences many behaviors in the fruit fly, and the key to its effects likely lies in its complex molecular structure. We've recently found that expression levels of a small subset of transcripts of the foraging gene underlie the behavioral differences seen in adult foraging patterns of the rover and sitter D. melanogaster strains. Here we comment on the larger implications of this and other findings on gene regulation and pleiotropy in behavior.