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A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila
Social context can dampen or amplify the perception of touch, and touch in turn conveys nuanced social information. However, the neural mechanism behind social regulation of mechanosensation is largely elusive. Here we report that fruit flies exhibit a strong defensive response to mechanical stimuli...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group UK
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7414864/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32770059 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17771-8 |
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author | Liu, Chenxi Zhang, Bei Zhang, Liwei Yang, Tingting Zhang, Zhewei Gao, Zihua Zhang, Wei |
author_facet | Liu, Chenxi Zhang, Bei Zhang, Liwei Yang, Tingting Zhang, Zhewei Gao, Zihua Zhang, Wei |
author_sort | Liu, Chenxi |
collection | PubMed |
description | Social context can dampen or amplify the perception of touch, and touch in turn conveys nuanced social information. However, the neural mechanism behind social regulation of mechanosensation is largely elusive. Here we report that fruit flies exhibit a strong defensive response to mechanical stimuli to their wings. In contrast, virgin female flies being courted by a male show a compromised defensive response to the stimuli, but following mating the response is enhanced. This state-dependent switch is mediated by a functional reconfiguration of a neural circuit labelled with the Tmc-L gene in the ventral nerve cord. The circuit receives excitatory inputs from peripheral mechanoreceptors and coordinates the defensive response. While male cues suppress it via a doublesex (dsx) neuronal pathway, mating sensitizes it by stimulating a group of uterine neurons and consequently activating a leucokinin-dependent pathway. Such a modulation is crucial for the balance between defense against body contacts and sexual receptivity. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7414864 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group UK |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74148642020-08-17 A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila Liu, Chenxi Zhang, Bei Zhang, Liwei Yang, Tingting Zhang, Zhewei Gao, Zihua Zhang, Wei Nat Commun Article Social context can dampen or amplify the perception of touch, and touch in turn conveys nuanced social information. However, the neural mechanism behind social regulation of mechanosensation is largely elusive. Here we report that fruit flies exhibit a strong defensive response to mechanical stimuli to their wings. In contrast, virgin female flies being courted by a male show a compromised defensive response to the stimuli, but following mating the response is enhanced. This state-dependent switch is mediated by a functional reconfiguration of a neural circuit labelled with the Tmc-L gene in the ventral nerve cord. The circuit receives excitatory inputs from peripheral mechanoreceptors and coordinates the defensive response. While male cues suppress it via a doublesex (dsx) neuronal pathway, mating sensitizes it by stimulating a group of uterine neurons and consequently activating a leucokinin-dependent pathway. Such a modulation is crucial for the balance between defense against body contacts and sexual receptivity. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7414864/ /pubmed/32770059 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17771-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
spellingShingle | Article Liu, Chenxi Zhang, Bei Zhang, Liwei Yang, Tingting Zhang, Zhewei Gao, Zihua Zhang, Wei A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title | A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title_full | A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title_fullStr | A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title_full_unstemmed | A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title_short | A neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in Drosophila |
title_sort | neural circuit encoding mating states tunes defensive behavior in drosophila |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7414864/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32770059 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17771-8 |
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