1. Prospero mutants induce precocious sexual behavior in Drosophila males
- Author
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Henri-Marc Bardet, Laure Guenin, Yael Grosjean, Jean-François Ferveur, Développement et Communication Chimique chez les Insectes ( DCCI ), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique ( CNRS ) -Université de Bourgogne ( UB ) -AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement, Développement et Communication Chimique chez les Insectes (DCCI), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Delon, Viviane
- Subjects
Male ,Aging ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Sexual Behavior ,education ,Nerve Tissue Proteins ,Transcription Factors/*genetics ,Crosses ,medicine.disease_cause ,Courtship ,03 medical and health sciences ,Sexual Behavior, Animal ,0302 clinical medicine ,Genetic ,Genetics ,medicine ,Nuclear Proteins/*genetics ,Animal/*physiology ,Sexual maturity ,Animals ,Drosophila Proteins ,Mating ,Hydrocarbons/analysis ,Genetics (clinical) ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Crosses, Genetic ,030304 developmental biology ,media_common ,0303 health sciences ,Mutation ,biology ,Drosophila Proteins/*genetics ,Nuclear Proteins ,Prospero ,biology.organism_classification ,Phenotype ,Nerve Tissue Proteins/*genetics ,humanities ,Hydrocarbons ,Drosophila melanogaster ,Female ,Age of onset ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Drosophila melanogaster/cytology/*genetics/growth & development/physiology ,Transcription Factors - Abstract
0001-8244 (Print) Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Brain maturation, a developmental process influenced by both endogenous and environmental factors, can affect sexual behavior. In vertebrates and invertebrates, sexual maturation is under the influence of hormones and neuromodulators, but the role of developmental genes in this process is still poorly understood. We report that prospero (pros), a gene crucial for nervous system development, can change the age of onset of sexual behavior in Drosophila melanogaster males: adult males carrying a single copy of several pros mutations court females and mate at a younger age than control males. However, these pros mutations had no effect on female sexual receptivity and did not alter other male phenotypes related to mating behavior. The Pros protein was detected in several brain and sensory structures of immature adult males, some of which are normally involved in the regulation of male specific behaviors. Our data suggest that the altered pros expression affects the age of onset of male mating behavior.
- Published
- 2006