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A single class of olfactory neurons mediates behavioural responses to a Drosophila sex pheromone

Author

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  • Amina Kurtovic

    (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr Bohr-gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Alexandre Widmer

    (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr Bohr-gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria)

  • Barry J. Dickson

    (Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Dr Bohr-gasse 7, A-1030 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Unisex pheromones The volatile pheromone 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) is produced by male Drosophila, and several lines of evidence suggest that it guides mating behaviour via the Or67d receptor in olfactory receptor neurons. Targeted mutation of the Or67d gene confirms that that is the case, but with a twist. cVA acts in both sexes but in males it inhibits mating behaviour; in females it promotes it. Males lacking Or67d inappropriately court other males, whereas females with the mutation become less receptive to courting males. This work shows that a pheromone is sensed by a dedicated olfactory channel anatomically and functionally distinct from the multi-channel coding of common odours.

Suggested Citation

  • Amina Kurtovic & Alexandre Widmer & Barry J. Dickson, 2007. "A single class of olfactory neurons mediates behavioural responses to a Drosophila sex pheromone," Nature, Nature, vol. 446(7135), pages 542-546, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:446:y:2007:i:7135:d:10.1038_nature05672
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05672
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas A. Verschut & Renny Ng & Nicolas P. Doubovetzky & Guillaume Calvez & Jan L. Sneep & Adriaan J. Minnaard & Chih-Ying Su & Mikael A. Carlsson & Bregje Wertheim & Jean-Christophe Billeter, 2023. "Aggregation pheromones have a non-linear effect on oviposition behavior in Drosophila melanogaster," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. David Scott & Alicia Shields & Michaela Straker & Heidi Dalrymple & Priya K Dhillon & Singh Harbinder, 2011. "Variation in the Male Pheromones and Mating Success of Wild Caught Drosophila melanogaster," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(8), pages 1-8, August.
    3. Javier J How & Saket Navlakha & Sreekanth H Chalasani, 2021. "Neural network features distinguish chemosensory stimuli in Caenorhabditis elegans," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-38, November.
    4. Pranjul Singh & Shefali Goyal & Smith Gupta & Sanket Garg & Abhinav Tiwari & Varad Rajput & Alexander Shakeel Bates & Arjit Kant Gupta & Nitin Gupta, 2023. "Combinatorial encoding of odors in the mosquito antennal lobe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Nan-Ji Jiang & Hetan Chang & Jerrit Weißflog & Franziska Eberl & Daniel Veit & Kerstin Weniger & Bill S. Hansson & Markus Knaden, 2023. "Ozone exposure disrupts insect sexual communication," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Martin F Strube-Bloss & Austin Brown & Johannes Spaethe & Thomas Schmitt & Wolfgang Rössler, 2015. "Extracting the Behaviorally Relevant Stimulus: Unique Neural Representation of Farnesol, a Component of the Recruitment Pheromone of Bombus terrestris," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-16, September.
    7. Shiu-Ling Chen & Bo-Ting Liu & Wang-Pao Lee & Sin-Bo Liao & Yao-Bang Deng & Chia-Lin Wu & Shuk-Man Ho & Bing-Xian Shen & Guan-Hock Khoo & Wei-Chiang Shiu & Chih-Hsuan Chang & Hui-Wen Shih & Jung-Kun W, 2022. "WAKE-mediated modulation of cVA perception via a hierarchical neuro-endocrine axis in Drosophila male-male courtship behaviour," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.

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