title: What does the fruitless gene tell us about nature vs. nurture in the sex life of Drosophila?
abstract: The fruitless (fru) gene in Drosophila has been proposed to play a master regulator role in the formation of neural circuitries for male courtship behavior, which is typically considered to be an innate behavior composed of a fixed action pattern as generated by the central pattern generator. However, recent studies have shed light on experience-dependent changes and sensory-input-guided plasticity in courtship behavior. For example, enhanced male-male courtship, a fru mutant "hallmark," disappears when fru-mutant males are raised in isolation. The fact that neural fru expression is induced by neural activities in the adult invites the supposition that Fru as a chromatin regulator mediates experience-dependent epigenetic modification, which underlies the neural and behavioral plasticity.
authors.affiliation: a Division of Neurogenetics , Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences , Seidai , Japan.
authors.forename: Daisuke
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: a Division of Neurogenetics , Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences , Seidai , Japan.
authors.forename: Soh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohatsu
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D003380:Courtship; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009434:Neural Pathways; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C103226:fru protein, Drosophila
keywords: Or47b; behavioral plasticity; courtship; fruitless; olfaction; vision