Fig. 3: Altered pheromone sensitivity in D. yakuba sensory neurons.
From: A modular circuit coordinates the diversification of courtship strategies
a, Left, Ppk23+ sensory neurons in D. melanogaster and D. yakuba male foreleg tarsal segments, marked by CD8::GFP (green), distal end up. Middle, Ppk23+ sensory afferents in the first thoracic segment of the ventral nerve cord expressing CD8::GFP (green) with neuropil counterstain (magenta), anterior side up. Right, functional responses of Ppk23+ afferents evoked by indicated females (black ticks indicate foreleg taps). b, Average courtship bout length in the 10 min following courtship initiation for wild-type males paired with conspecific female (n = 18); D. melanogaster female (n = 20) or ppk23 mutant (n = 20 each) in the light. c,d, Average courtship bout length of ppk23 mutant D. melanogaster (n = 20 each) (c) or D. yakuba (n = 20 each) (d) males paired with conspecific females in the dark. e, Left, average functional responses (∆F/F0) recorded from foreleg sensory afferents aligned to time of a tap and (right) average peak response (∆F/F0) per male for a given female target. (sample sizes: yak ppk23>GCaMP n = 9; mel ppk23>GCaMP n = 7; yak ∆ppk23;ppk23>GCaMP n = 4; yak ∆ppk25;fru>GCaMP n = 8). f, Average courtship bout length of wild-type males paired with conspecific females in the dark (left) (n = 10 each) and ppk25 mutant males paired with D. melanogaster females in the light (right) (n = 10 each). g, Average courtship bout length before (Pre) or during (Stim) periods of optogenetic stimulation of Ppk23>CsChrimson or >CsChrimson control animals paired with a D. melanogaster female (n = 10 each). h, Model summarizing the inferred changes in the sensitivity of sensory populations and effect on P1 neuron activity. D. melanogaster and D. simulans diagrams on the basis of previous reports13,19,20,31,35,37,39. For behavioural tests (b–g), points represent individual males; bars are median. For imaging (e), shading is mean ± s.e.m., points are individual males and error bars are mean ± s.e.m. Statistics: ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc (e), Mann–Whitney (b–d,f), Wilcoxon test (g). Letters denote statistically different groups (P < 0.05). **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001; NS, not significant. WT, wild type.
