Resetting the Circadian Clock by Social Experience in Drosophila melanogaster

Science ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 298 (5600) ◽  
pp. 2010-2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Levine
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Circadian Clock ◽  
Social Experience

scholarly journals Peripheral Sensory Organs Contribute to Temperature Synchronization of the Circadian Clock in Drosophila melanogaster

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah George ◽  
Ralf Stanewsky
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Circadian Clock ◽  
Temperature Fluctuations ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Circadian Clocks ◽  
Sensory Cells ◽  
Clock Gene Expression ◽  
External Time ◽  
Peripheral Sensory

Circadian clocks are cell-autonomous endogenous oscillators, generated and maintained by self-sustained 24-h rhythms of clock gene expression. In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, these daily rhythms of gene expression regulate the activity of approximately 150 clock neurons in the fly brain, which are responsible for driving the daily rest/activity cycles of these insects. Despite their endogenous character, circadian clocks communicate with the environment in order to synchronize their self-sustained molecular oscillations and neuronal activity rhythms (internal time) with the daily changes of light and temperature dictated by the Earth’s rotation around its axis (external time). Light and temperature changes are reliable time cues (Zeitgeber) used by many organisms to synchronize their circadian clock to the external time. In Drosophila, both light and temperature fluctuations robustly synchronize the circadian clock in the absence of the other Zeitgeber. The complex mechanisms for synchronization to the daily light–dark cycles are understood with impressive detail. In contrast, our knowledge about how the daily temperature fluctuations synchronize the fly clock is rather limited. Whereas light synchronization relies on peripheral and clock-cell autonomous photoreceptors, temperature input to the clock appears to rely mainly on sensory cells located in the peripheral nervous system of the fly. Recent studies suggest that sensory structures located in body and head appendages are able to detect temperature fluctuations and to signal this information to the brain clock. This review will summarize these studies and their implications about the mechanisms underlying temperature synchronization.

Extra-retinal photoreceptors synchronise the circadian clock of Drosophila melanogaster.

2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (Spring) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shobi Veleri ◽  
Charlotte Helfrich-Förster ◽  
Ralf Stanewsky
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Circadian Clock ◽  
Retinal Photoreceptors

scholarly journals Effect of genes, social experience, and their interaction on the courtship behaviour of transgenic Drosophila males

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLAS SVETEC ◽  
BENJAMIN HOUOT ◽  
JEAN-FRANÇOIS FERVEUR
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Adult Development ◽  
Strong Interaction ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Courtship Behaviour ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Variable Effect ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
And Control ◽  
Transgenic Drosophila

Behaviour depends (a) on genes that specify the neural and non-neural elements involved in the perception of and responses to sensory stimuli and (b) on experience that can modulate the fine development of these elements. We exposed transgenic and control Drosophila melanogaster males, and their hybrids, to male siblings during adult development and measured the contribution of genes and of experience to their courtship behaviour. The transgene CheB42a specifically targets male gustatory sensillae and alters the perception of male inhibitory pheromones which leads to frequent male–male interactions. The age at which social experience occurred and the genotype of tester males induced a variable effect on the intensity of male homo- and heterosexual courtship. The strong interaction between the effects of genes and of social experience reveals the plasticity of the apparently stereotyped elements involved in male courtship behaviour. Finally, a high intensity of homosexual courtship was found only in males that simultaneously carried a mutation in their white gene and the CheB42a transgene.

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