Sunday, July 24, 2016

Music to the heart! Interview with Troy Shirangi on development of neural circuitry for fly courtship behavior!!

You all must have seen a peacock dance. It's majestic, isn't it! The vibrant colors all moving in big waves, but for what?? The male peacock performs the majestic gesture to lure the female into mating. This is true for many species where the male makes ostentatious displays to entice the female. But how does the male develop the displays that the females respond to? Are there special neural circuitry controlling this behavior?? And if so, which genes are responsible for making them???


Troy and his colleagues dissect such machinery for the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. They find the neurons and master transcription factor autonomously controlling the courtship behavior. They are able to specially pin-point the neuro-muscular apparatus underlying male singing. The study lays the platform for understanding sex-specific behaviors and the evolutionary forces underlying mate choice. To understand about the exciting work, please listen to the interview with Troy.


For further information, please refer the following study:
Doublesex Regulates the Connectivity of a Neural Circuit Controlling Drosophila Male Courtship Song
Shirangi et al., Developmental Cell, 20 June 2016.
   

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