Neural circuit mechanisms of sexual receptivity in Drosophila females

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 589; no. 7843; pp. 577 - 581
• Main Authors: Wang, Kaiyu, Wang, Fei, Forknall, Nora, Yang, Tansy, Patrick, Christopher, Parekh, Ruchi, Dickson, Barry J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.01.2021; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13/51; 14/19; 14/32; 14/69; 631/378/1804; 631/378/2619; 631/378/3920; 64/24; 9/74; Abdomen; Acoustic Stimulation; Animal reproduction; Animals; Auditory Pathways; Circuits; Copulation; Courtship; Decisions; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster - cytology; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Female; Females; Fruit flies; Humanities and Social Sciences; Insects; Male; Males; Mating; Mating Preference, Animal; multidisciplinary; Neural circuitry; Neural networks; Neural Pathways - cytology; Neural Pathways - physiology; Neurons; Neurons - physiology; Optogenetics; Peptides; Physiological aspects; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sexual behavior; Sexual receptivity; Song; Sperm; Vagina; Vocalization, Animal; United States

Choosing a mate is one of the most consequential decisions a female will make during her lifetime. A female fly signals her willingness to mate by opening her vaginal plates, allowing a courting male to copulate 1 , 2 . Vaginal plate opening (VPO) occurs in response to the male courtship song and is...