Measurement of Drosophila Reproductive Behaviors
- 1Danish Research Institute of Translational Neuroscience (DANDRITE), Nordic-EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
- 2The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, the Nanotechnology Institute, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 5290002, Israel
- 3School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom
- ↵5Correspondence: galit.ophir{at}biu.ac.il; c.rezaval{at}bham.ac.uk
Abstract
Courtship behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster are innate and contain highly stereotyped but also experience- and state-dependent elements. They have been the subject of intense study for more than 100 years. The power of Drosophila as a genetic experimental system has allowed the dissection of reproductive behaviors at a molecular, cellular, and physiological level. As a result, we know a great deal about how flies perceive sensory cues from potential mates, how this information is integrated in higher brain centers to execute reproductive decisions, and how state and social contexts modulate these responses. The simplicity of the assay has allowed for its broad application. Here, we introduce methods for studying male and female innate reproductive behaviors as well as their plastic responses.
Footnotes
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↵4 Present address: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Science, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
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From the Drosophila Neurobiology collection, edited by Bing Zhang, Ellie Heckscher, Alex C. Keene, and Scott Waddell.
