A research group led by Professor Daisuke Yamamoto at Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences has discovered that particular brain neurons in male Drosophila are excited by touching the female to display courtship behavior. It has been known that with the effect of a gene called fruitless, males vibrate a single wing during courtship by sensing pheromones of the female. The present study demonstrated that a male initiates courtship even placed alone without any courtship target if the brain cells where fruitless is active are artificially activated. They further revealed that the neurons named P1 make decision to court and another group of neurons, P2b, transmit the decision to a motor system, which in turn produces the action. By using protein called Yellow Chameleon to visualize fluorescence changes of brain neuronal excitation, the group has also shown that P1 neurons excite immediately when the male touches the female with his foreleg on which pheromone receptors exist. The research result has been published in the February 10, 2011 issue of Neuron. The paper’s title is “Female Contact Activates Male-specific Interneurons that Trigger Stereotypic Courtship Behavior in Drosophila.”

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[Contact]
Professor Daisuke Yamamoto
Tohoku University Graduate School of Life Sciences
Tel: +81-22-217-6218
E-mail: daichan*m.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)

[Public Relations]
Associate Professor Fuji Nagami
Tohoku Neuroscience Global COE
Tel: +81-22-717-7908, Fax: +81-22-717-7923
E-mail: f-nagami*med.tohoku.ac.jp (Replace * with @)