Behavioral and neuronal underpinnings of safety in numbers in fruit flies

Ferreira, Clara Howcroft; Moita, Marta A.

doi:10.1101/629311

Cited by 17 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Unlike the UAS and gal4 controls, females did not advance egg-laying in a group when T4 and T5 were blocked (Figure 4E), showing that T4 and T5 are necessary for group sensing. Lobula columnar (LC) neurons are an entry point for the circuit-level study of visual responses since it is the first layer where visual information about objects is decoded (Ferreira and Moita, 2020; Ribeiro et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2016). Having identified motion cues of group members as the leading source of the group effect on egg-laying, we investigated the role of visual projection neurons responsive to the movement of small objects like a flies: LC10 and LC11 (Ferreira and Moita, 2020; Keleş and Frye, 2017; Ribeiro et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2016).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lobula columnar (LC) neurons are an entry point for the circuit-level study of visual responses since it is the first layer where visual information about objects is decoded (Ferreira and Moita, 2020; Ribeiro et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2016). Having identified motion cues of group members as the leading source of the group effect on egg-laying, we investigated the role of visual projection neurons responsive to the movement of small objects like a flies: LC10 and LC11 (Ferreira and Moita, 2020; Keleş and Frye, 2017; Ribeiro et al, 2018; Wu et al, 2016). LC neurons were silenced in females by expressing Kir2.1 and by testing the focal female for egg-laying latency alone or in groups with wild-type males.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It determines whether to approach a moving object and initiate courtship by allowing discrimination of objects that have the dimension of a fly (Agrawal et al, 2014; Bidaye et al, 2020; Ribeiro et al, 2018). Flies also detect group presence via vision and gradually respond to group size by displaying lower freezing responses as group size increases (Ferreira and Moita, 2020). Moreover, flies detect the presence of parasitoid wasps through visual cues, which lead to egg-retention and ovarian apoptosis (Kacsoh et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social modulation of oogenesis and egg-laying inDrosophila melanogaster

Tiphaine

Kohlmeier

Etienne

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Being part of a group facilitates cooperation between group members, but also creates competition for limited resources. This conundrum is problematic for gravid females who benefit from being in a group, but whose future offspring may struggle for access to nutrition in larger groups. Females should thus modulate their reproductive output depending on their social context. Although social-context dependent modulation of reproduction is documented in a broad range of species, its underlying mechanisms and functions are poorly understood. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, females actively attract conspecifics to lay eggs on the same resources, generating groups in which individuals may cooperate or compete. The tractability of the genetics of this species allows dissecting the mechanisms underlying physiological adaptation to their social context. Here, we show that females produce eggs increasingly faster as group size increases. By laying eggs faster in group than alone, females appear to reduce competition between offspring and increase their likelihood of survival. In addition, females in a group lay their eggs during the light phase of the day, while isolated females lay them during the night. We show that responses to the presence of others are determined by vision through the motion detection pathway and that flies from any sex, mating status or species can trigger these responses. The mechanisms of this modulation of egg-laying by group is connected to a lifting of the inhibition of light on oogenesis and egg-laying by stimulating hormonal pathways involving juvenile hormone. Because modulation of reproduction by social context is a hallmark of animals with higher levels of sociality, our findings represent a protosocial mechanism in a species considered solitary that may have been the target of selection for the evolution of more complex social systems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social modulation of oogenesis and egg-laying inDrosophila melanogaster

Tiphaine

Kohlmeier

Etienne

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…synchronization as a key component of collective behavior 1,5,95 . Although Drosophila do not display such a degree of collective/coordinated behaviors as these organisms, they do exhibit behavioral responses that involve collective features, such as different responses to threat when in a group, changes in memory retrieval that depend on social experience, cooperation in feeding behavior and even aggregation, suggesting the existence of a collective response that can increase survival or reproductive success 4,55,72,[96][97][98][99][100][101][102] . Adding to this, our results demonstrate the presence of social clusters, characterized with increased coordination between individuals, stable distances between individuals, long-lasting interactions, which are correlated with increased grooming, all of which are suggestive of a semicollective state, in agreement with previous studies 103,104 .…”

Section: Studies Of Collective Behaviors In Various Animals Includingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social interaction and network structure in groups of Drosophila males are shaped by prior social experience and group composition

Bentzur

Ben-Shaanan

Benishou

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Living in a group creates a complex and dynamic environment in which the behavior of the individual is influenced by and affects the behavior of others. Although social interactions and group living are fundamental adaptations exhibited by many organisms, relatively little is known about how prior social experience, internal states and group composition shape behavior in a group, and the neuronal and molecular mechanisms that mediate it. Here we present a practical framework for studying the interplay between social experience and group interaction in Drosophila melanogaster and show that the structure of social networks and group interactions are sensitive to group composition and individuals' social history. We simplified the complexity of interaction in a group using a series of experiments in which we controlled the social experience and motivational states of individuals to dissect patterns that represent distinct structures and behavioral responses of groups under different social conditions. Using high-resolution data capture, machine learning and graph theory, we analyzed 60 distinct behavioral and social network features, generating a comprehensive representation ("group signature") for each condition. We show that social enrichment promotes the formation of a distinct group structure that is characterized by high network modularity, high interindividual and inter-group variance, high inter-individual synchrony, and stable social clusters. Using environmental and genetic manipulations, we show that this structure requires visual and pheromonal cues. Particularly, the male specific pheromone cVA and Or65a sensory neurons are necessary for the expression of different aspects of social interaction in a group. Finally, we explored social interactions in heterogenous groups and identified clusters of features that are sensitive to increasing ratios of aggressive flies, some of which reveal that inter-individual synchronization depends on group composition. Our results demonstrate that fruit flies exhibit complex and dynamic social structures that are modulated by the experience and composition of different individuals within the group.This paves the path for using simple model organisms to dissect the neurobiology of behavior in complex environments associated with living in a group.Many species have adapted to living in groups, from simple organisms, such as nematodes, to humans. Group living takes different forms with various levels of complexity, from almost random interactions to fully synchronized collective behavior 1-5 , and can be described by measuring the behavior of individuals, the interaction between individuals and the resulting social network, altogether defined here as "group behavior". When individuals interact in a group, their internal motivational state, previous memories and other physiological processes affect their action selection, giving rise to diverse activity levels, behavioral responses, and engagement with others 6 . This results in a highly complex and continuously changing envi...

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“…11,12 ) and access to mates 13 . The composition of a group can influence the health and fitness of individuals within it [14][15][16] . Thus, understanding how the size and density of a group influence self-organisation can provide insight into the relative benefits of group living.…”

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confidence: 99%

Drosophila melanogaster behaviour changes in different social environments based on group size and density

et al. 2020

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Many organisms, when alone, behave differently from when they are among a crowd. Drosophila similarly display social behaviour and collective behaviour dynamics within groups not seen in individuals. In flies, these emergent behaviours may be in response to the global size of the group or local nearest-neighbour density. Here we investigate i) which aspect of social life flies respond to: group size, density, or both and ii) whether behavioural changes within the group are dependent on olfactory support cells. Behavioural assays demonstrate that flies adjust their interactive behaviour to group size but otherwise compensate for density by achieving a standard rate of movement, suggesting that individuals are aware of the number of others within their group. We show that olfactory support cells are necessary for flies to behave normally in large groups. These findings shed insight into the subtle and complex life of Drosophila within a social setting.

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Behavioral and neuronal underpinnings of safety in numbers in fruit flies

Cited by 17 publications

References 47 publications

Social modulation of oogenesis and egg-laying inDrosophila melanogaster

Social modulation of oogenesis and egg-laying inDrosophila melanogaster

Social interaction and network structure in groups of Drosophila males are shaped by prior social experience and group composition

Drosophila melanogaster behaviour changes in different social environments based on group size and density

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