Affiliation:
1. Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Abstract
Sex-specific behaviors are critical for reproduction and species survival. The sex-specifically spliced transcription factor
fruitless
(
fru
) helps establish male courtship behaviors in invertebrates. Forcing male-specific
fru
(
fruM
) splicing in
Drosophila melanogaster
females produces male-typical behaviors while disrupting female-specific behaviors. However, whether
fru
’s joint role in specifying male and inhibiting female behaviors is conserved across species is unknown. We used CRISPR-Cas9 to force FruM expression in female
Drosophila virilis
, a species in which males and females produce sex-specific songs
.
In contrast to
D. melanogaster
, in which one
fruM
allele is sufficient to generate male behaviors in females, two alleles are needed in
D. virilis
females.
D. virilis
females expressing FruM maintain the ability to sing female-typical song as well as lay eggs, whereas
D. melanogaster
FruM females cannot lay eggs. These results reveal potential differences in
fru
function between divergent species and underscore the importance of studying diverse behaviors and species for understanding the genetic basis of sex differences.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cited by
1 articles.
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