title: Conditioning Mutations in DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER Affect an Experience-Dependent Behavioral Modification in Courting Males.
abstract: One aspect of courtship in male Drosophila melanogaster has been reported to be experience dependent. Males that have courted fertilized females are virtually unresponsive to virgin females for 2-3 hr. Here, this response was utilized as an assay for the effects of conditioning mutations on experience-dependent courtship. Seven strains expressing conditioning mutations (previously isolated and characterized for learning or memory defects in an electrical shock-odor association paradigm, independent of courtship) were all found to be mutant in expression of this experience-dependent change in courtship behavior. By comparison, three control strains that were unselected for conditioning defects all expressed normal experience-dependent courtship. Other results indicate that males of the conditioning-defective strains are able to elicit necessary cues from fertilized females, yet do not then modify their courtship with virgin females. Thus, it is suggested that experience-dependent modification of courtship and the previously reported associative olfactory conditioning with electric shock share common elements of processing. The possibility that experience-dependent courtship represents adaptive behavior is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Gailey
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Siegel