Pleiotropic actions of the male pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate in Drosophila melanogaster.

Aki Ejima

doi:10.1007/s00359-015-1020-9

Abstract

The male-specific lipid, cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) has multiple functions in intra-species communication in Drosophila melanogaster. The presence of cVA in a male suppresses courtship motivation of other males and averts male–male courtship. Meanwhile, aggression behaviors between males are promoted by a high amount of cVA caused by increased densities of male flies. cVA also works as a modifier of courtship memory, which is suppressed courtship motivation driven by previous unsuccessful courtship experience. Conversely, cVA in the courting male stimulates female reproductive motivation and increases the probability of copulation success. It also works as an aggregation pheromone, attracting both males and females at the gathering spot. Thus, cVA is a unique example of a single molecule leading to different behaviors in response to the social context. However, despite recent advances in understanding the molecular and neural machinery for cVA sensing, it is still largely unknown how cVA triggers a specific behavior as the situation demands. In this review article, I discuss two potential machineries that might determine cVA actions for behavior selection at the sensory level.

Highlights

Organisms are living under vast amounts of biotic and abiotic factors in habitats
Cis-vaccenyl acetate is a male-specific lipid synthesized in the ejaculatory bulb (Butterworth 1969; Brieger and Butterworth 1970; Guiraudie-Capraz et al 2007) and has multiple functions in social behaviors including inhibition of male courtship (Jallon et al 1981), modification of courtship memory (Ejima et al 2007), stimulation of male–male aggression (Wang and Anderson 2010), enhancement of female copulation receptivity (Kurtovic et al 2007), and induction of aggregation behavior (Bartelt et al 1985)
Application of Cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA) reduced overall courtship activities (Zawistowski and Richmond 1986; Ejima et al 2007; Kurtovic et al 2007) and copulation success (Mane et al 1983; Zawistowski and Richmond 1986). This anti-aphrodisiac effect of cVA is considered to contribute towards males avoiding male–male courtship

Summary

Introduction

Organisms are living under vast amounts of biotic and abiotic factors in habitats. Among them, they selectively receive the salient factors and adequately modulate their behaviors, leading to the gain of their survival and reproductive success. Message substances secreted/excreted from an individual to another conspecific one to change its behavior or physiology are called pheromones (Karlson and Luscher 1959; Shorey 1973; Wyatt 2003). Drosophila melanogaster, the involvement of sex pheromones for social interaction has been suggested since studies of their reproductive behaviors began (e.g., Sturtevant 1915; Jallon 1984; Ferveur 2005; Yamamoto et al 2014). Despite recent advances in understanding the molecular and neural machinery for cVA sensing (van der Goes van Naters 2014; Sengupta and Smith 2014; Bontonou and Wicker-Thomas 2014), how cVA, which is a single molecule, triggers different behaviors is still largely unknown

Multiple functions of cVA in chemical communication

Copulation acceptance

Potential underlying mechanisms for cVA pleiotropy

Findings

Odor context