title: Sexual interactions influence the molecular oscillations in DN1 pacemaker neurons in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Circadian rhythms can synchronize to environmental time cues, such as light, temperature, humidity, and food availability. Previous studies have suggested that these rhythms can also be entrained by social interactions. Here, we used Drosophila melanogaster as a model to study the influence of socio-sexual interactions on the circadian clock in behavior and pacemaker neurons. If two flies of opposite sex were paired and kept in a small space, the daily activity patterns of the two flies were clearly different from the sum of the activity of single male and female flies. Compared with single flies, paired flies were more active in the night and morning, were more active during females' active phase, and were less active during males' active phase. These behavioral phenotypes are related to courtship behavior, but not to the circadian clock. Nevertheless, in male-female pairs of flies with clocks at different speeds (wild-type and per (S) flies), clock protein cycling in the DN1 pacemaker neurons in the male brain were slightly influenced by their partners. These results suggest that sexual interactions between male-female couples can serve as a weak zeitgeber for the DN1 pacemaker neurons, but the effect is not sufficient to alter rhythms of behavioral activity.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Shiho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hanafusa
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yujiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Umezaki
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomioka
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Taishi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshii
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D057906:Circadian Clocks; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C103226:fru protein, Drosophila