title: Egg-laying demand induces aversion of UV light in Drosophila females.
abstract: Drosophila melanogaster females are highly selective about the chemosensory quality of their egg-laying sites, an important trait that promotes the survival and fitness of their offspring. How egg-laying females respond to UV light is not known, however. UV is a well-documented phototactic cue for adult Drosophila, but it is an aversive cue for larvae. Here, we show that female flies exhibit UV aversion in response to their egg-laying demand. First, females exhibit egg-laying aversion of UV: they prefer to lay eggs on dark sites when choosing between UV-illuminated and dark sites. Second, they also exhibit movement aversion of UV: positional tracking of single females suggests that egg-laying demand increases their tendency to turn away from UV. Genetic manipulations of the retina suggest that egg-laying and movement aversion of UV are both mediated by the inner (R7) and not the outer (R1-R6) photoreceptors. Finally, we show that the Dm8 amacrine neurons, a synaptic target of R7 photoreceptors and a mediator of UV spectral preference, are dispensable for egg-laying aversion but essential for movement aversion of UV. This study suggests that egg-laying demand can temporarily convert UV into an aversive cue for female Drosophila and that R7 photoreceptors recruit different downstream targets to control different egg-laying-induced behavioral modifications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Edward Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Ananya R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Guntur
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
authors.forename: Ruo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Durham, NC 27705, USA.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. Electronic address: yang@neuro.duke.edu.
authors.forename: Chung-Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D003624:Darkness; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010058:Oviposition / Q000502:physiology*; D054799:Phospholipase C beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000378:metabolism*; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C468371:NorpA protein, Drosophila; D054799:Phospholipase C beta