title: Love makes smell blind: mating suppresses pheromone attraction in Drosophila females via Or65a olfactory neurons.
abstract: In Drosophila, the male sex pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) elicits aggregation and courtship, through the odorant receptor Or67d. Long-lasting exposure to cVA suppresses male courtship, via a second channel, Or65a. In females, the role of Or65a has not been studied. We show that, shortly after mating, Drosophila females are no longer attracted to cVA and that activation of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) expressing Or65a generates this behavioral switch: when silencing Or65a, mated females remain responsive to cVA. Neurons expressing Or67d converge into the DA1 glomerulus in the antennal lobe, where they synapse onto projection neurons (PNs), that connect to higher neural circuits generating the attraction response to cVA. Functional imaging of these PNs shows that the DA1 glomerulus is inhibited by simultaneous activation of Or65a OSNs, which leads to a suppression of the attraction response to cVA. The behavioral role of postmating cVA exposure is substantiated by the observation that matings with starved males, which produce less cVA, do not alter the female response. Moreover, exposure to synthetic cVA abolishes attraction and decreases sexual receptivity in unmated females. Taken together, Or65a mediates an aversive effect of cVA and may accordingly regulate remating, through concurrent behavioral modulation in males and females.
authors.affiliation: 1] Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology Unit, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden [2] Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lebreton
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grabe
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology Unit, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Aman B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Omondi
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology Unit, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Rickard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ignell
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology Unit, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Paul G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Becher
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Bill S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Hansson
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sachse
authors.affiliation: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Chemical Ecology Unit, 230 53 Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Witzgall
mesh_terms: D000085:Acetates / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D057506:Arthropod Antennae / Q000502:physiology; D003380:Courtship; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D008297:Male; D009829:Oleic Acids / Q000378:metabolism*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000378:metabolism*; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009829:Oleic Acids; C000602052:Or65a protein, Drosophila; C530080:Or67d protein, Drosophila; D010675:Pheromones; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; C505385:cis-vaccenyl acetate