title: A bidirectional circuit switch reroutes pheromone signals in male and female brains.
abstract: The Drosophila sex pheromone cVA elicits different behaviors in males and females. First- and second-order olfactory neurons show identical pheromone responses, suggesting that sex genes differentially wire circuits deeper in the brain. Using in vivo whole-cell electrophysiology, we now show that two clusters of third-order olfactory neurons have dimorphic pheromone responses. One cluster responds in females; the other responds in males. These clusters are present in both sexes and share a common input pathway, but sex-specific wiring reroutes pheromone information. Regulating dendritic position, the fruitless transcription factor both connects the male-responsive cluster and disconnects the female-responsive cluster from pheromone input. Selective masculinization of third-order neurons transforms their morphology and pheromone responses, demonstrating that circuits can be functionally rewired by the cell-autonomous action of a switch gene. This bidirectional switch, analogous to an electrical changeover switch, provides a simple circuit logic to activate different behaviors in males and females.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kohl
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
authors.forename: Aaron D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ostrovsky
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK.
authors.forename: Shahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frechter
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. Electronic address: jefferis@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gregory S X E
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Jefferis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D010675:Pheromones; D014157:Transcription Factors; C103226:fru protein, Drosophila