title: The nutritional and hedonic value of food modulate sexual receptivity in Drosophila melanogaster females.
abstract: Food and sex often go hand in hand because of the nutritional cost of reproduction. For Drosophila melanogaster females, this relationship is especially intimate because their offspring develop on food. Since yeast and sugars are important nutritional pillars for Drosophila, availability of these foods should inform female reproductive behaviours. Yet mechanisms coupling food and sex are poorly understood. Here we show that yeast increases female sexual receptivity through interaction between its protein content and its odorous fermentation product acetic acid, sensed by the Ionotropic odorant receptor neuron Ir75a. A similar interaction between nutritional and hedonic value applies to sugars where taste and caloric value only increase sexual receptivity when combined. Integration of nutritional and sensory values would ensure that there are sufficient internal nutrients for egg production as well as sufficient environmental nutrients for offspring survival. These findings provide mechanisms through which females may maximize reproductive output in changing environments.
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, PO Box 11103, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700 CC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jenke A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gorter
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, PO Box 11103, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700 CC, The Netherlands.|Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Samyukta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jagadeesh
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, PO Box 11103, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700 CC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gahr
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, PO Box 11103, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700 CC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jelle J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Boonekamp
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Joel D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, PO Box 11103, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700 CC, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Billeter
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid; D000596:Amino Acids; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D009830:Olfactory Bulb / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D015003:Yeasts
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D019342:Acetic Acid