Abstract
The molecular analysis of specific mutant genes that affect the courtship behaviours of Drosophila melanogaster males and females is discussed in the light of the possibility that they may contribute to mate choice. There is clear evidence that some genes can act as a reservoir of species-specific behaviour, particularly for the male actions during courtship. However, to date there has not been a single genetic locus that has been isolated at the molecular level and shown to be associated with a change in female preference. There are some promising avenues of exploration, in that recent genetic analyses suggest that a small number of genes may make major contributions to female preferences. Finally a candidate gene approach is advocated in which orthologous genes from other species of Drosophila are used as ‘natural’ mutations, and transformed into D. melanogaster hosts to investigate whether they carry species-specific mating information of the donor.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alexander, R.D., 1962. Evolutionary changes in cricket acoustical communication. Evolution 16: 443–467.
Alt, S., J. Ringo, B. Talyn, W.B. & H. Dowse, 1998. The period gene controls courtship song cycles in D. melanogaster. Anim. Behav. 56: 87–97.
Anand, A., A. Villella, L.C. Ryner, T. Carlo, S.F. Goodwin, H.-J. Song, D.A. Gailey, A. Morales, J.C. Hall, B.S. Baker & B.J. Taylor, 2001. Molecular genetic dissection of the sex-specific and vital functions of the Drosophila melanogaster sex determination gene fruitless. Genetics 158: 1569–1595.
Baker, B.S., B.J. Taylor & J.C. Hall, 2001. Are complex behaviors specified by dedicated regulatory genes? Reasoning from Drosophila. Cell 105: 13–24.
Butlin, R. & M.G. Ritchie, 2001. Searching for speciation genes. Nature 412: 31–32.
Campesan, S., D. Chalmers, A. Megighian, F. Sandrelli, A.A. Peixoto, R. Costa & C.P. Kyriacou, 2001a. Comparative analysis of the nonA region in Drosophila identifies a highly diverged 5′ gene that may constrain nonA promoter evolution. Genetics 157: 751–764.
Campesan, S., Y. Dubrova, J.C. Hall & C.P. Kyriacou, 2001. The nonA gene in Drosophila conveys species-specific behavioral characteristics. Genetics 158: 1535–1543.
Cline, T.W. & B.J. Meyer, 1996. Vive la difference: males vs females in flies vs worms. Annu. Rev. Genet. 30: 637–702.
Coyne, J.A., 1992. Genetics and speciation. Nature 355: 511–515.
Crossley, S.A., 1988. Failure to confirm rhythms in Drosophila courtship. Anim. Behav. 36: 1098–1109.
Demetriades, M.C., J.R. Thackeray & C.P. Kyriacou, 1999. Courtship song rhythms in Drosophila yakuba. Anim. Behav. 57: 379–386.
Doi, M., M. Matsuda, M. Tomaru, H. Matsubayashi & Y. Oguma, 2001. A locus for female discrimination behavior causing sexual isolation in Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 6714–6719.
Ewing, A.W., 1988. Cycles in the courtship song of male Drosophila melanogaster have not been detected. Anim. Behav. 36: 1091–1097.
Finley, K.D., B.J. Taylor, M. Milstein & M. McKeown, 1997. dissatisfaction, a gene involved in sex-specific behavior and neural development of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94: 913–918.
Finley, K.D., P.T. Edeen, M. Foss, E. Gross, N. Ghbeish, R.H. Palmer, B.J. Taylor & M. McKeown, 1998. dissatisfaction encodes a Tailless-like nuclear receptor expressed in a subset of CNS neurons controlling Drosophila sexual behavior. Neuron 21: 1363–1374.
Gailey, D.A. & J.C. Hall, 1989. Behavior and cytogenetics of fruitless in Drosophila melanogaster. different courtship defects caused by separate, closely linked lesions. Genetics 121: 773–785.
Gill, K.S., 1963. A mutation causing abnormal courtship and mating behavior in males of Drosophila melanogaster. Am. Zool. 3: s507.
Greenacre, M.L., M. Ritchie, B.C. Byrne & C.P. Kyriacou, 1993. Female lovesong preference and the period gene in Drosophila. Behav. Genet. 23: 85–90.
Greenspan, R.J. & J.-F. Ferveur, 2000. Courtship in Drosophila. Ann. Rev. Genet. 34: 205–232.
Heinrichs, V., L.C. Ryner & B.S. Baker, 1998. Regulation of sex-specific selection of fruitless 5′ splice sites by transformer and transformer-2. Mol. Cell. Biol. 18: 450–458.
Hoikkala, A. & J. Lumme, 1984. Genetic control of the difference in male courtship sound between Drosophila virilis and Drosophila lummei. Behav. Genet. 14: 57–268.
Hoikkala A., S. Paallysaho, J. Aspi & J. Lumme, 2000. Localization of genes affecting species differences in male courtship song between Drosophila virilis and D. littoralis. Genet. Res. Camb. 75: 37–45.
Ito, H., K. Fujitani, K. Usui, K. Shimizu-Nishikawa, S. Tanaka & D. Yamamoto, 1996. Sexual orientation in Drosophila is altered by the satori mutation in the sex-determination gene fruitless that encodes a zinc finger protein with a BTB domain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93: 9687–9692.
Konopka, R.J. & S. Benzer, 1971. Clock mutants of Drosophila melanogaster. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 68: 2112–2116.
Kulkarni, S.J. & J.C. Hall, 1987. Behavioral and cytogenetic analysis of the cacophony courtship song mutant and interacting genetic-variants in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 115: 461–475.
Kulkarni, S.J., A.F. Steinlauf & J.C. Hall, 1988. The dissonance mutant of courtship song in Drosophila melanogaster. isolation, behavior and cytogenetics. Genetics 118: 267–285.
Kyriacou, C.P. & J.C. Hall, 1980. Circadian rhythm mutations in Drosophila affect short-term fluctuations in the male’s courtship song. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 77: 6729–6733.
Kyriacou, C.P. & J.C. Hall, 1982. The function of courtship song rhythms in Drosophila. Anim. Behav. 30: 794–801.
Kyriacou, C.P. & J.C. Hall, 1986. Interspecific genetic control of courtship song production and reception in Drosophila. Science 232: 494–497.
Kyriacou, C.P. & J.C. Hall, 1989. Spectral analysis of Drosophila courtship songs. Anim. Behav. 37: 850–859.
Kyriacou, C.P., van den M. Berg & J.C. Hall, 1990. Courtship song rhythms in wild-type and period mutant Drosophila revisited. Behav. Genet. 20: 17–644.
Lande, R., 1981. Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 78: 3721–3725.
Lee, G., M. Foss, S.F. Goodwin, T. Carlo, B.J. Taylor & J.C. Hall, 2000. Spatial, temporal, and sexually dimorphic expression patterns of the fruitless gene in the Drosophila CNS. J. Neurobiol. 43: 404–426.
Moriyama, E.N., 1987. Higher rates of nucleotide substitution in Drosophila than in mammals. Jpn. J. Genet. 62: 139–147.
Nakano, Y., K. Fujitani, J. Kurihara, J. Ragan, K. Usui-Aoki, L. Shimoda, T. Lukacsovich, K. Suzuki, M. Sezaki, Y. Sano, R. Ueda, W. Awano, M. Kaneda, M. Umeda & D. Yamamoto, 2001. Mutations in the novel membrane protein spinster interfere with programmed cell death and cause neural degeneration in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol. Cell. Biol. 21: 3775–3788.
Petersen, G., J.C. Hall & M. Rosbash, 1988. The period gene of Drosophila carries species-specific behavioral instructions. EMBO J. 12: 3939–3947.
Peixoto, A.A. & J.C. Hall, 1998. Analysis of temperature-sensitive mutants reveals new genes involved in the courtship song of Drosophila. Genetics 148: 827–838.
Piccin, A., M. Couchman, J.D. Clayton, D. Chalmers, R. Costa & C.P. Kyriacou, 2000. The clock gene period of the housefly, Musca domestica rescues behavioral rhythmicity in Drosophila melanogaster. evidence for intermolecular coevolution. Genetics 154: 47–758.
Rendahl, K.G. & J.C. Hall, 1996. Temporally manipulated rescue of visual and courtship abnormalities caused by a nonA mutation in Drosophila. J. Neurogen. 10: 247–256.
Rendahl, K.G., K.R. Jones, S.J. Kulkarni, S.H. Bagully & J.C. Hall, 1992. The dissonance mutation at the no-on-transient A locus of D. melanogaster: genetic control of courtship song and visual behaviors by a protein with putative RNA-binding motifs. J. Neurosci. 12: 390–407.
Ritchie, M.G. & C.P. Kyriacou, 1994. Reproductive isolation in the period gene of Drosophila. Mol. Ecol. 3: 595–599.
Ritchie, M.G., E.J. Halsey & J.M. Gleason, 1999. Drosophila song as a species-specific mating signal and the behavioural importance of Kyriacou and Hall cycles in D. melanogaster song. Anim. Behav. 58: 649–657.
Ryner, L.C., S.F. Goodwin, D.H. Castrillon, A. Anand, A. Villella, B.S. Baker, J.C. Hall, B.J. Taylor & S.A. Wasserman, 1996. Control of male sexual behavior and sexual orientation in Drosophila by the fruitless gene. Cell 87: 1079–1089.
Sakai, T. & N. Ishida, 2001. Circadian rhythms of female mating activity governed by clock genes in Drosophila. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 9221–9225.
von Schilcher, F., 1977. A mutation which changes courtship song in Drosophila melanogaster. Behav. Genet. 7: 251–259.
Smith, L.A., X.J. Wang, A.A. Peixoto, E.K. Neumann, L.M. Hall & J.C. Hall, 1996. A Drosophila Calcium channel al subunit gene maps to a genetic locus associated with behavioral and visual defects. J. Neurosci. 16: 7868–7879.
Ting, C.-T., A. Takahashi & C.-I. Wu, 2001. Incipient speciation by sexual isolation in Drosophila: concurrent evolution at multiple loci. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 6709–6713.
Usui-Aoki, K., H. Ito, K. Ui-Yei, J. Takahashi, T. Lucacsovitch, W. Awano, H. Nakata, X.F. Piao, E.E. Nillson, J.-J. Tomida & D. Yamamoto, 2000. Formation of the male-specific muscle in female Drosophila by ectopic fruitless expression. Nature Cell. Biol. 2: 500–506.
Wheeler, D.A., W.L. Field & J.C. Hall, 1988. Spectral analysis of Drosophila courtship songs: D. melanogaster, D. simulans and their interspecific hybrids. Behav. Genet. 18: 675–703.
Wheeler, D.A., C.P Kyriacou, M.L. Greenacre, Q. Yu, J.E. Rutila, M. Rosbash & J.C. Hall, 1991. Molecular transfer of a species-specific courtship behaviour from Drosophila simulans to Drosophila melanogaster. Science 251: 1082–1085.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kyriacou, C.P. (2002). Single gene mutations in Drosophila: What can they tell us about the evolution of sexual behaviour?. In: Etges, W.J., Noor, M.A.F. (eds) Genetics of Mate Choice: From Sexual Selection to Sexual Isolation. Contemporary Issues in Genetics and Evolution, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0265-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0265-3_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-3958-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0265-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive