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The role of DEG/ENaC ion channel subunits in pheromone detection and mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster / by Vinoy Vijayan.

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Author	Vijayan, Vinoy.
Title	The role of DEG/ENaC ion channel subunits in pheromone detection and mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster / by Vinoy Vijayan.
Date	2014
Abstract	Gustatory pheromones regulate mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster and represent an important model for understanding how sensory stimuli can drive behavior. However, the genes and cells involved in pheromone detection have remained poorly understood. The discovery that a DEG/ENaC channel subunit, ppk25, is important for male courtship towards females suggested that members of this family may have important roles in detecting pheromones in Drosophila. In the work outlined in this thesis, I first show that ppk25 and a related gene, ppk29 are required in gustatory neurons of the legs and wings for normal male courtship responses to females. Work from another group showed that within a subset of taste hairs on the legs of Drosophila, there are two pheromone-sensing neurons marked by the expression of another DEG/ENaC channel subunit, ppk23. These two ppk23-expressing neurons have opposite but complementary response profiles with one neuron detecting female pheromones that stimulate male-female courtship and the other detecting male pheromones that inhibit male-male courtship. We find that, unlike ppk23, ppk25 is only expressed in a single gustatory neuron per taste hair and even though males lacking ppk25 are deficient in courtship towards females, they do not show increased male-male courtship. These results suggest that ppk25 may function in a unique subset of pheromone-sensing gustatory neurons. Subsequently, we demonstrate that ppk25 is expressed and functions specifically in neurons that detect female-specific pheromones and mediates their stimulatory effect on male courtship. Furthermore, I show that ppk25 is also required in the same subset of neurons for stimulation of courtship by young males, males of the Tai2 strain, and by another stimulatory pheromone, 7-pentacosene (7-P). Finally, I describe a novel role for ppk25 in females. In the absence of redundant olfactory and auditory inputs, mutations in ppk25 or silencing of ppk25-expressing neurons block female receptivity to males. These results indicate that ppk25 is required for the detection of many distinct types of pheromones. Overall, we identify a set of gustatory neurons, marked by ppk25 expression, that are explicitly involved in promoting, rather than inhibiting courtship and mating in Drosophila.
Description	xvi, 212 leaves : ill. (some col.)
Format	application/pdf
College	Dartmouth Medical School. Department of Genetics.
Issuing Body	Dartmouth Dissertations are made available through the Dartmouth Digital Library.
Degree	Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dartmouth College.
Copyright	All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the author.
DOI	http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/ddlp.1209

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The role of DEG/ENaC ion channel subunits in pheromone detection and mating behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster / by Vinoy Vijayan.

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