Sex peptide regulates female receptivity through serotoninergic neurons in Drosophila
Yan Tong Yang,
Shao Wei Hu,
Xiaonan Li,
Yuanjie Sun,
Ping He,
Kristi Anne Kohlmeier,
Yan Zhu
Affiliations
Yan Tong Yang
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing 101408, China
Shao Wei Hu
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; ENT Institute and Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Eye & ENT Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200031, China
Xiaonan Li
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yuanjie Sun
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Ping He
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Kristi Anne Kohlmeier
Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing 101408, China
Yan Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China; College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Sino-Danish Center for Education and Research, Beijing 101408, China; Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100190, China; Corresponding author
Summary: The courtship ritual is a dynamic interplay between males and females. Courtship successfully leading to copulation is determined by the intention of both parties which is conveyed by complex action sequences. In Drosophila, the neural mechanisms controlling the female’s willingness to mate, or sexual receptivity, have only recently become the focus of investigations. Here, we report that pre-mating sexual receptivity in females requires activity within a subset of serotonergic projection neurons (SPNs), which positively regulate courtship success. Of interest, a male-derived sex peptide, SP, which was transferred to females during copulation acted to inhibit the activity of SPN and suppressed receptivity. Downstream of 5-HT, subsets of 5-HT7 receptor neurons played critical roles in SP-induced suppression of sexual receptivity. Together, our study reveals a complex serotonin signaling system in the central brain of Drosophila which manages the female’s desire to mate.
