Abstract
Mate selection is critical to ensuring the survival of a species. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, genetic and anatomical studies have focused on mate recognition and courtship initiation for decades. This model system has proven to be highly amenable for the study of neural systems controlling the decision making process. However, much less is known about how courtship quality is regulated in a temporally dynamic manner in males and how a female assesses male performance as she makes her decision of whether to accept copulation. Here, we report that the courting male dynamically adjusts the relative proportions of the song components, pulse song or sine song, by assessing female locomotion. Male flies deficient for olfaction failed to perform the locomotion-dependent song modulation, indicating that olfactory cues provide essential information regarding proximity to the target female. Olfactory mutant males also showed lower copulation success when paired with wild-type females, suggesting that the male’s ability to temporally control song significantly affects female mating receptivity. These results depict the consecutive inter-sex behavioral decisions, in which a male smells the close proximity of a female as an indication of her increased receptivity and accordingly coordinates his song choice, which then enhances the probability of his successful copulation.
Highlights
The courtship behavior of the male fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has served as a model for the study of the neural processes and computations that govern behavioral decisions
In order to understand how the song production decision is made and its relationship to sensory inputs, we examined how male courtship song is produced in the context of female behavior and how it is affected by the absence of olfactory input
Locomotor activity was measured by recording the number of times the female crossed a line laid down the middle of the chamber, and the male’s total time spent singing either pulse or sine song was analyzed for each 30-second time window within the observation period
Summary
The courtship behavior of the male fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has served as a model for the study of the neural processes and computations that govern behavioral decisions. Drosophila males will readily initiate courtship when placed in a chamber with a conspecific female and follow a stereotyped sequence of courtship escalation [1]. Courtship is further escalated by male wing extensions that vibrate to produce an auditory signal. This step conveys important information to the female about male quality and is a large determinant of copulation success [2,3]. At this point, if the female is receptive to the male’s advances, he will lick her genitalia and immediately attempt to copulate. The male repeats the cycle, starting anew with song production [4]
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