A fundamental problem in neurobiology is understanding how the potential for complex behaviors are established. Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model system to explore this question, given that a robust behavior, mating behavior, is genetically programmed. Drosophila male courtship consists of a series of steps directed towards a female. Females that have not been mated are receptive to male courtship behaviors, whereas those that have been recently mated will reject these advances. There is molecular- genetic evidence demonstrating that the sex hierarchy plays a central role in establishing courtship and mating behaviors in both males and females, through the action of transcription factors encoded by doublesex (dsx) and fruitless (fru). Both dsx and fru produce sex-specific isoforms. Molecular-genetic analyses have demonstrated that both dsx and fru play fundamental roles in the establishment of sex- specific cell fates important for reproductive behaviors. Despite the importance of these transcription factors practically nothing is known about their targets. We will use genomic approaches to identify genes regulated by these transcription factors. We will study the functions of these target genes in the nervous system to gain insight into the genetic specification of behavior. This will provide a foundation for understanding the specification of complex behaviors in other organisms, including humans, for which we have very limited understanding.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01GM073039-04S1
Application #
7888951
Study Section
Development - 1 Study Section (DEV1)
Program Officer
Tompkins, Laurie
Project Start
2009-08-03
Project End
2011-06-30
Budget Start
2009-08-03
Budget End
2011-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$325,148
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
072933393
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Signor, Sarah A; Arbeitman, Michelle N; Nuzhdin, Sergey V (2016) Gene networks and developmental context: the importance of understanding complex gene expression patterns in evolution. Evol Dev 18:201-9
Newell, Nicole R; New, Felicia N; Dalton, Justin E et al. (2016) Neurons That Underlie Drosophila melanogaster Reproductive Behaviors: Detection of a Large Male-Bias in Gene Expression in fruitless-Expressing Neurons. G3 (Bethesda) 6:2455-65
Arbeitman, Michelle N; New, Felicia N; Fear, Justin M et al. (2016) Sex Differences in Drosophila Somatic Gene Expression: Variation and Regulation by doublesex. G3 (Bethesda) 6:1799-808
Fear, Justin M; Arbeitman, Michelle N; Salomon, Matthew P et al. (2015) The Wright stuff: reimagining path analysis reveals novel components of the sex determination hierarchy in Drosophila melanogaster. BMC Syst Biol 9:53
Arbeitman, Michelle N; Kopp, Artyom; L Siegal, Mark et al. (2014) The genetics of sex: exploring differences. Genetics 197:527-9
Arbeitman, Michelle N; Kopp, Artyom; Siegal, Mark L et al. (2014) The genetics of sex: exploring differences. G3 (Bethesda) 4:979-81
Ardekani, Reza; Biyani, Anurag; Dalton, Justin E et al. (2013) Three-dimensional tracking and behaviour monitoring of multiple fruit flies. J R Soc Interface 10:20120547
Dalton, Justin E; Fear, Justin M; Knott, Simon et al. (2013) Male-specific Fruitless isoforms have different regulatory roles conferred by distinct zinc finger DNA binding domains. BMC Genomics 14:659
Thomas, Amanda; Lee, Pei-Jung; Dalton, Justin E et al. (2012) A versatile method for cell-specific profiling of translated mRNAs in Drosophila. PLoS One 7:e40276
Winbush, Ari; Reed, Danielle; Chang, Peter L et al. (2012) Identification of gene expression changes associated with long-term memory of courtship rejection in Drosophila males. G3 (Bethesda) 2:1437-45

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