Neural network organization for courtship-song feature detection in Drosophila

Baker, Christa A.; McKellar, Claire E; Pang, Rich; Nern, Aljoscha; Dorkenwald, Sven; Pacheco, Diego A.; Eckstein, Nils; Funke, Jan; Dickson, Barry J.; Murthy, Mala

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.019

Cited by 27 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Given that AMMC-B1 is a major type of secondary auditory neuron required for behavioral responses to courtship songs, as shown previously in D. melanogaster 31 , 61 , the neural circuit that receives information from AMMC-B1 and outputs to vpoEN is considered to contribute to further shaping a preference to a conspecific IPI. Indeed, previous studies identified several neurons that connect AMMC-B1 and vpoEN in D. melanogaster 32 , 42 , 46 , 61 . If D. simulans AMMC-B1 has a homologous downstream neural circuit, vpoEN may show a response preference for a 55-ms IPI in D. simulans to shape its behavioral preference for the conspecific IPI.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In D. melanogaster , AMMC-B1 neurons are reported to be “pulse preferring neurons” which respond to pulse songs more strongly than pure tones 46 . This current study indicates that AMMC-B1 neurons of D. simulans share the pulse preferring characteristics of D. melanogaster ; D. simulans AMMC-B1 neurons showed weak responses to a 300-Hz pure tone (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies assigned ~ 60 neurons in each hemisphere as AMMC-B1 neurons, which were further classified into multiple subtypes based on anatomical and functional aspects 46 , 55 , 71 . As the number of labeled AMMC-B1 neurons in this study is far less than ~ 60 (nine to twelve in D. melanogaster and five to eight in D. simulans ), the AMMC-B1 neurons analyzed in this study were just a part of the entire AMMC-B1 population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results suggest that differences in other, possibly downstream, neurons along the auditory neural circuit could further contribute to the interspecific difference in IPI preferences at the behavioral level. Recent studies have reported that vpoEN neurons, which control female virginal plate opening in response to the male courtship song (i.e., female copulatory acceptance) in D. melanogaster , preferentially respond to songs with conspecific 35-ms IPI 32 , 46 . Given that AMMC-B1 is a major type of secondary auditory neuron required for behavioral responses to courtship songs, as shown previously in D. melanogaster 31 , 61 , the neural circuit that receives information from AMMC-B1 and outputs to vpoEN is considered to contribute to further shaping a preference to a conspecific IPI.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mechanosensory neurons in the JO, denoted as JO neurons, are the primary neurons of the auditory pathway of flies 20 , 44 , 45 . Song information is transmitted mainly from a subset of JO neurons (subgroup-B neurons; JO-B neurons) to the major secondary auditory neurons, AMMC-B1 neurons, which then relay song information to higher-order neurons 46 . Transmissions from JO-B neurons to AMMC-B1 neurons are the first step for IPI information processing in the auditory neural circuit of D. melanogaster ; while songs with shorter IPIs generate stronger responses in JO-B neurons, the response of AMMC-B1 neurons to the short-IPI song (i.e., 15-ms IPI) is significantly attenuated, thereby shifting its response peak to a longer IPI song (i.e., 25-ms IPI) 31 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolutionary conservation and diversification of auditory neural circuits that process courtship songs in Drosophila

Ohashi

Ishikawa

Awasaki

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Acoustic communication signals diversify even on short evolutionary time scales. To understand how the auditory system underlying acoustic communication could evolve, we conducted a systematic comparison of the early stages of the auditory neural circuit involved in song information processing between closely-related fruit-fly species. Male Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans produce different sound signals during mating rituals, known as courtship songs. Female flies from these species selectively increase their receptivity when they hear songs with conspecific temporal patterns. Here, we firstly confirmed interspecific differences in temporal pattern preferences; D. simulans preferred pulse songs with longer intervals than D. melanogaster. Primary and secondary song-relay neurons, JO neurons and AMMC-B1 neurons, shared similar morphology and neurotransmitters between species. The temporal pattern preferences of AMMC-B1 neurons were also relatively similar between species, with slight but significant differences in their band-pass properties. Although the shift direction of the response property matched that of the behavior, these differences are not large enough to explain behavioral differences in song preferences. This study enhances our understanding of the conservation and diversification of the architecture of the early-stage neural circuit which processes acoustic communication signals.

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