Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany; Next Generation Insect Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Centre, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany; Next Generation Insect Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Centre, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
In birds and insects, the female uptakes sperm for a specific duration post-copulation known as the ejaculate holding period (EHP) before expelling unused sperm and the mating plug through sperm ejection. In this study, we found that Drosophila melanogaster females shortens the EHP when incubated with males or mated females shortly after the first mating. This phenomenon, which we termed male-induced EHP shortening (MIES), requires Or47b+ olfactory and ppk23+ gustatory neurons, activated by 2-methyltetracosane and 7-tricosene, respectively. These odorants raise cAMP levels in pC1 neurons, responsible for processing male courtship cues and regulating female mating receptivity. Elevated cAMP levels in pC1 neurons reduce EHP and reinstate their responsiveness to male courtship cues, promoting re-mating with faster sperm ejection. This study established MIES as a genetically tractable model of sexual plasticity with a conserved neural mechanism.
