The Influence of quick-to-court Gene on Some Aspects of Mating Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

quick-to-court (qtc) is a recently discovered gene involved in the regulation of the mating behavior of Drosophila melanogaster males. Previously, we obtained flies with a complete deletion of this gene in the heterozygous state. This paper is focused on the study of the behavioral features of the new deletion mutant. The courtship ritual was studied in flies with ablated aristae, which caused a partial blocking of the acoustic channel of signal exchange between sexual partners. It was found that the removal of aristae leads to an increase in the time required to enter copulation and to a decrease in the frequency of copulations in flies with qtc deletion as well as in control flies. However, differences were found between mutant and control individuals. Removal of aristae in control females reduced the copulation rate to a greater extent than removal of aristae in control males, whereas in deletion mutants no differences between the sexes were found. In the case of control flies, the latency increased only by removal of aristae in females. In flies with a deletion of qtc, the latency increased when aristae both in females and in males were removed. The results suggest that qtc is involved in the development of behavioral sexual dimorphism, but the mechanism of its action is still unclear.