Natural Diversity of Cuticular Pheromones in a Local Population of Drosophila after Laboratory Acclimation.

Experimental studies of insects are often based on strains raised for many generations in constant laboratory conditions. However, laboratory acclimation could reduce species diversity reflecting adaptation to varied natural niches. Hydrocarbons covering the insect cuticle (cuticular hydrocarbons; CHCs) are reliable adaptation markers. They are involved in dehydration reduction and protection against harmful factors. CHCs can also be involved in chemical communication principally related to reproduction. However, the diversity of CHC profiles in nature and their evolution in the laboratory have rarely been investigated. Here, we sampled CHC natural diversity in Drosophila melanogaster flies from a particular location in a temperate region. We also measured cis-Vaccenyl acetate, a male-specific volatile pheromone. After trapping flies using varied fruit baits, we set up 21 D. melanogaster lines and analysed their pheromones at capture and after 1 to 40 generations in the laboratory. Under laboratory conditions, the broad initial pheromonal diversity found in male and female flies rapidly changed and became more limited. In some females, we detected CHCs only reported in tropical populations: the presence of flies with a novel CHC profile may reflect the rapid adaptation of this cosmopolitan species to global warming in a temperate area.

Replenishment of Drosophila Male Pheromone After Mating.

Insect exocrine gland products can be involved in sexual communication, defense, territory labelling, aggregation and alarm. In the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster the ejaculatory bulb synthesizes and releases 11-cis-Vaccenyl acetate (cVa). This pheromone, transferred to the female during copulation, affects aggregation, courtship and male-male aggressive behaviors. To determine the ability of male flies to replenish their cVa levels, males of a control laboratory strain and from the desat1 pheromone-defective mutant strain were allowed to mate successively with several females. We measured mating frequency, duration and latency, the amount of cVa transferred to mated females and the residual cVa in tested males. Mating duration remained constant with multiple matings, but we found that the amount of cVa transferred to females declined with multiple matings, indicating that, over short, biologically-relevant periods, replenishment of the pheromone does not keep up with mating frequency, resulting in the transfer of varying quantities of cVa. Adult responses to cVa are affected by early developmental exposure to this pheromone; our revelation of quantitative variation in the amount of cVa transferred to females in the event of multiple matings by a male suggests variable responses to cVa shown by adults produced by such matings. This implies that the natural role of this compound may be richer than suggested by laboratory experiments that study only one mating event and its immediate behavioral or neurobiological consequences.

Drosophila Free-Flight Odor Tracking is Altered in a Sex-Specific Manner By Preimaginal Sensory Exposure.

In insects such as Drosophila melanogaster, flight guidance is based on converging sensory information provided by several modalities, including chemoperception. Drosophila flies are particularly attracted by complex odors constituting volatile molecules from yeast, pheromones and microbe-metabolized food. Based on a recent study revealing that adult male courtship behavior can be affected by early preimaginal exposure to maternally transmitted egg factors, we wondered whether a similar exposure could affect free-flight odor tracking in flies of both sexes. Our main experiment consisted of testing flies differently conditioned during preimaginal development in a wind tunnel. Each fly was presented with a dual choice of food labeled by groups of each sex of D. melanogaster or D. simulans flies. The combined effect of food with the cis-vaccenyl acetate pheromone (cVA), which is involved in aggregation behavior, was also measured. Moreover, we used the headspace method to determine the "odorant" identity of the different labeled foods tested. We also measured the antennal electrophysiological response to cVA in females and males resulting from the different preimaginal conditioning procedures. Our data indicate that flies differentially modulated their flight response (take off, flight duration, food landing and preference) according to sex, conditioning and food choice. Our headspace analysis revealed that many food-derived volatile molecules diverged between sexes and species. Antennal responses to cVA showed clear sex-specific variation for conditioned flies but not for control flies. In summary, our study indicates that preimaginal conditioning can affect Drosophila free flight behavior in a sex-specific manner.

Factors affecting the biosynthesis and emission of a Drosophila pheromone.

The most studied pheromone in Drosophila melanogaster, cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), is synthesized in the male ejaculatory bulb and transferred to the female during copulation. Combined with other chemicals, cVA can modulate fly aggregation, courtship, mating and fighting. We explored the mechanisms underlying both cVA biosynthesis and emission in males of two wild types and a pheromonal mutant line. The effects of ageing, adult social interaction, and maternally transmitted cVA and microbes - both associated with the egg chorion - on cVA biosynthesis and emission were measured. While ageing and genotype changed both biosynthesis and emission in similar ways, early developmental exposure to maternally transmitted cVA and microbes strongly decreased cVA emission but not the biosynthesis of this molecule. This indicates that the release - but not the biosynthesis - of this sex pheromone strongly depends on early developmental context. The mechanism by which the preimaginal effects occur is unknown, but reinforces the significance of development in determining adult physiology and behaviour.

Aging-Related Variation of Cuticular Hydrocarbons in Wild Type and Variant Drosophila melanogaster.

The cuticle of all insects is covered with hydrocarbons which have multiple functions. Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) basically serve to protect insects against environmental harm and reduce dehydration. In many species, some CHCs also act as pheromones. CHCs have been intensively studied in Drosophila species and more especially in D. melanogaster. In this species, flies produce about 40 CHCs forming a complex sex- and species-specific bouquet. The quantitative and qualitative pattern of the CHC bouquet was characterized during the first days of adult life but remains unexplored in aging flies. Here, we characterized CHCs during the whole-or a large period of-adult life in males and females of several wild type and transgenic lines. Both types of lines included standard and variant CHC profiles. Some of the genotypes tested here showed very dramatic and unexpected aging-related variation based on their early days' profile. This study provides a concrete dataset to better understand the mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of CHCs on the fly cuticle. It could be useful to determine physiological parameters, including age and response to climate variation, in insects collected in the wild.

Flying Drosophila show sex-specific attraction to fly-labelled food.

Animals searching for food and sexual partners often use odourant mixtures combining food-derived molecules and pheromones. For orientation, the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster uses three types of chemical cues: (i) the male volatile pheromone 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), (ii) sex-specific cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs; and CH-derived compounds), and (iii) food-derived molecules resulting from microbiota activity. To evaluate the effects of these chemicals on odour-tracking behaviour, we tested Drosophila individuals in a wind tunnel. Upwind flight and food preference were measured in individual control males and females presented with a choice of two food sources labelled by fly lines producing varying amounts of CHs and/or cVA. The flies originated from different species or strains, or their microbiota was manipulated. We found that (i) fly-labelled food could attract-but never repel-flies; (ii) the landing frequency on fly-labelled food was positively correlated with an increased flight duration; (iii) male-but not female or non-sex-specific-CHs tended to increase the landing frequency on fly-labelled food; (iv) cVA increased female-but not male-preference for cVA-rich food; and (v) microbiota-derived compounds only affected male upwind flight latency. Therefore, sex pheromones interact with food volatile chemicals to induce sex-specific flight responses in Drosophila.

Live yeast in juvenile diet induces species-specific effects on Drosophila adult behaviour and fitness.

The presence and the amount of specific yeasts in the diet of saprophagous insects such as Drosophila can affect their development and fitness. However, the impact of different yeast species in the juvenile diet has rarely been investigated. Here, we measured the behavioural and fitness effects of three live yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae = SC; Hanseniaspora uvarum = HU; Metschnikowia pulcherrima = MP) added to the diet of Drosophila melanogaster larvae. Beside these live yeast species naturally found in natural Drosophila populations or in their food sources, we tested the inactivated "drySC" yeast widely used in Drosophila research laboratories. All flies were transferred to drySC medium immediately after adult emergence, and several life traits and behaviours were measured. These four yeast diets had different effects on pre-imaginal development: HU-rich diet tended to shorten the "egg-to-pupa" period of development while MP-rich diet induced higher larval lethality compared to other diets. Pre- and postzygotic reproduction-related characters (copulatory ability, fecundity, cuticular pheromones) varied according to juvenile diet and sex. Juvenile diet also changed adult food choice preference and longevity. These results indicate that specific yeast species present in natural food sources and ingested by larvae can affect their adult characters crucial for fitness.

Experimental Introgression To Evaluate the Impact of Sex Specific Traits on Drosophila melanogaster Incipient Speciation.

Sex specific traits are involved in speciation but it is difficult to determine whether their variation initiates or reinforces sexual isolation. In some insects, speciation depends of the rapid change of expression in desaturase genes coding for sex pheromones. Two closely related desaturase genes are involved in Drosophila melanogaster pheromonal communication: desat1 affects both the production and the reception of sex pheromones while desat2 is involved in their production in flies of Zimbabwe populations. There is a strong asymmetric sexual isolation between Zimbabwe populations and all other "Cosmopolitan" populations: Zimbabwe females rarely copulate with Cosmopolitan males whereas Zimbabwe males readily copulate with all females. All populations express desat1 but only Zimbabwe strains show high desat2 expression. To evaluate the impact of sex pheromones, female receptivity and desat expression on the incipient speciation process between Zimbabwe and Cosmopolitan populations, we introgressed the Zimbabwe genome into a Cosmopolitan genome labeled with the white mutation, using a multi-generation procedure. The association between these sex-specific traits was determined during the procedure. The production of pheromones was largely dissociated between the sexes. The copulation frequency (but not latency) was highly correlated with the female-but not with the male-principal pheromones. We finally obtained two stable white lines showing Zimbabwe-like sex pheromones, copulation discrimination and desat expression. Our study indicates that the variation of sex pheromones and mating discrimination depend of distinct-yet overlapping-sets of genes in each sex suggesting that their cumulated effects participate to reinforce the speciation process.

The desaturase1 gene affects reproduction before, during and after copulation in Drosophila melanogaster.

Desaturase1 (desat1) is one of the few genes known to be involved in the two complementary aspects of sensory communication - signal emission and signal reception - in Drosophila melanogaster. In particular, desat1 is necessary for the biosynthesis of major cuticular pheromones in both males and females. It is also involved in the male ability to discriminate sex pheromones. Each of these two sensory communication aspects depends on distinct desat1 putative regulatory regions. Here, we used (i) mutant alleles resulting from the insertion/excision of a transposable genomic element inserted in a desat1 regulatory region, and (ii) transgenics made with desat1 regulatory regions used to target desat1 RNAi. These genetic variants were used to study several reproduction-related phenotypes. In particular, we compared the fecundity of various mutant and transgenic desat1 females with regard to the developmental fate of their progeny. We also compared the mating performance in pairs of flies with altered desat1 expression in various desat1-expressing tissues together with their inability to disengage at the end of copulation. Moreover, we investigated the developmental origin of altered sex pheromone discrimination in male flies. We attempted to map some of the tissues involved in these reproduction-related phenotypes. Given that desat1 is expressed in many brain neurons and in non-neuronal tissues required for varied aspects of reproduction, our data suggest that the regulation of this gene has evolved to allow the optimal reproduction and a successful adaptation to varied environments in this cosmopolitan species.

Pre-imaginal conditioning alters adult sex pheromone response in Drosophila.

Pheromones are chemical signals that induce innate responses in individuals of the same species that may vary with physiological and developmental state. In Drosophila melanogaster, the most intensively studied pheromone is 11-cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), which is synthezised in the male ejaculatory bulb and is transferred to the female during copulation. Among other effects, cVA inhibits male courtship of mated females. We found that male courtship inhibition depends on the amount of cVA and this effect is reduced in male flies derived from eggs covered with low to zero levels of cVA. This effect is not observed if the eggs are washed, or if the eggs are laid several days after copulation. This suggests that courtship suppression involves a form of pre-imaginal conditioning, which we show occurs during the early larval stage. The conditioning effect could not be rescued by synthetic cVA, indicating that it largely depends on conditioning by cVA and other maternally-transmitted factor(s). These experiments suggest that one of the primary behavioral effects of cVA is more plastic and less stereotypical than had hitherto been realised.

Yeast quality in juvenile diet affects Drosophila melanogaster adult life traits.

Diet quality is critical for animal development and survival. Fungi can provide nutrients that are essential to organisms that are unable to synthetize them, such as ergosterol in Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila studies examining the influence of yeast quality in the diet have generally either provided the diet over the whole life span (larva to adult) or during the adult stage and have rarely focussed on the juvenile diet. Here, we tested the effect of yeast quality in the larval diet on pre-adult development and adult weight, survival, reproduction and food preference. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was added in three forms in three treatments-live, heated or dried-to food used as the juvenile diet or was not added (empty treatment). Adults resulting from the larvae raised on these four juvenile diets were all maintained on a similar standard laboratory food diet. Our data indicate that yeast quality in the juvenile diet affects larva-to-pupa-but not pupa-to-adult-development. Importantly, adult survival, food preference, mating behaviour and cuticular pheromones strongly varied with the juvenile diet. Therefore, the variation of yeast quality in the pre-adult Drosophila diet affects key adult life traits involved in food search, reproduction and survival.

Behavioural elements and sensory cues involved in sexual isolation between Drosophila melanogaster strains.

Sensory cues exchanged during courtship are crucial for mate choice: if they show intraspecific divergence, this may cause or reinforce sexual isolation between strains, ultimately leading to speciation. There is a strong asymmetric sexual isolation between Drosophila melanogaster females from Zimbabwe (Z) and males from all other populations (M). While M and Z flies of both sexes show different cuticular pheromones, this variation is only partly responsible for the intraspecific isolation effect. Male acoustic signals are also partly involved in sexual isolation. We examined strain-specific courtship behaviour sequences to determine which body parts and sensory appendages may be involved in sexual isolation. Using two strains representative of the Z- and M-types, we manipulated sensory cues and the social context; we then measured the consequence of these manipulations on courtship and copulation. Our data suggest that Z females mated best with males whose sensory characteristics matched those of Z males in both quantity and quality. M females were less choosy and much less influenced by the sensory and social contexts. Differences in emission and reception of sensory signals seen between Z and M flies may lead to the concerted evolution of multiple sensory channel, thereby shaping a population-specific mate recognition system.

Desiccation resistance: effect of cuticular hydrocarbons and water content in Drosophila melanogaster adults.

BACKGROUND: The insect cuticle covers the whole body and all appendages and has bi-directionnal selective permeability: it protects against environmental stress and pathogen infection and also helps to reduce water loss. The adult cuticle is often associated with a superficial layer of fatty acid-derived molecules such as waxes and long chain hydrocarbons that prevent rapid dehydration. The waterproofing properties of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs) depend on their chain length and desaturation number. Drosophila CH biosynthesis involves an enzymatic pathway including several elongase and desaturase enzymes. METHODS: The link between desiccation resistance and CH profile remains unclear, so we tested (1) experimentally selected desiccation-resistant lines, (2) transgenic flies with altered desaturase expression and (3) natural and laboratory-induced CH variants. We also explored the possible relationship between desiccation resistance, relative water content and fecundity in females. RESULTS: We found that increased desiccation resistance is linked with the increased proportion of desaturated CHs, but not with their total amount. Experimentally-induced desiccation resistance and CH variation both remained stable after many generations without selection. Conversely, flies with a higher water content and a lower proportion of desaturated CHs showed reduced desiccation resistance. This was also the case in flies with defective desaturase expression in the fat body. DISCUSSION: We conclude that rapidly acquired desiccation resistance, depending on both CH profile and water content, can remain stable without selection in a humid environment. These three phenotypes, which might be expected to show a simple relationship, turn out to have complex physiological and genetic links.

Gene Regulation and Species-Specific Evolution of Free Flight Odor Tracking in Drosophila.

The flying ability of insects has coevolved with the development of organs necessary to take-off from the ground, generate, and modulate lift during flight in complex environments. Flight orientation to the appropriate food source and mating partner depends on the perception and integration of multiple chemical signals. We used a wind tunnel-based assay to investigate the natural and molecular evolution of free flight odor tracking in Drosophila. First, the comparison of female and male flies of several populations and species revealed substantial sex-, inter-, and intra-specific variations for distinct flight features. In these flies, we compared the molecular structure of desat1, a fast-evolving gene involved in multiple aspects of Drosophila pheromonal communication. We manipulated desat1 regulation and found that both neural and nonneural tissues affect distinct flight features. Together, our data suggest that desat1 is one of the genes involved in the evolution of free-flight odor tracking behaviors in Drosophila.

Molecular bases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: shedding light on the darkness.

Eating-disorders (EDs) consequences to human health are devastating, involving social, mental, emotional, physical and life-threatening aspects, concluding on impairment and death in cases of extreme anorexia nervosa. It also implies that people suffering an ED need to find psychiatric and psychological help as soon as possible to achieve a fully physical and emotional recovery. Unfortunately, to date, there is a crucial lack of efficient clinical treatment to these disorders. In this review, we present an overview concerning the actual pharmacological and psychological treatments, the knowledge of cells, circuits, neuropeptides, neuromodulators and hormones in the human brain- and other organs- underlying these disorders, the studies in animal models and, finally, the genetic approaches devoted to face this challenge. We will also discuss the need for new perspectives, avenues and strategies to be developed in order to pave the way to novel and more efficient therapeutics.

Transient and permanent experience with fatty acids changes Drosophila melanogaster preference and fitness.

Food and host-preference relies on genetic adaptation and sensory experience. In vertebrates, experience with food-related cues during early development can change adult preference. This is also true in holometabolous insects, which undergo a drastic nervous system remodelling during their complete metamorphosis, but remains uncertain in Drosophila melanogaster. We have conditioned D. melanogaster with oleic (C18:1) and stearic (C18:0) acids, two common dietary fatty acids, respectively preferred by larvae and adult. Wild-type individuals exposed either during a transient period of development-from embryo to adult-or more permanently-during one to ten generation cycles-were affected by such conditioning. In particular, the oviposition preference of females exposed to each fatty acid during larval development was affected without cross-effect indicating the specificity of each substance. Permanent exposure to each fatty acid also drastically changed oviposition preference as well as major fitness traits (development duration, sex-ratio, fecundity, adult lethality). This suggests that D. melanogaster ability to adapt to new food sources is determined by its genetic and sensory plasticity both of which may explain the success of this generalist-diet species.

Choice alters Drosophila oviposition site preference on menthol.

Food choice and preference relies on multiple sensory systems that are under the control of genes and sensory experience. Exposure to specific nutrients and nutrient-related molecules can change food preference in vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, larval exposure of several holometabolous insects to menthol can change their adult response to this molecule. However, studies involving Drosophila melanogaster exposure to menthol produced controversial results due maybe to methodological differences. Here, we compared the oviposition-site preference of wild-type D. melanogaster lines freely or forcibly exposed to menthol-rich food. After 12 generations, oviposition-site preference diverged between the two lines. Counterintuitively, menthol 'forced' lines showed a persistent aversion to menthol whereas 'free choice' lines exhibited a decreased aversion to menthol-rich food. This effect was specific to menthol since the 'free choice' lines showed unaltered responses to caffeine and sucrose. This suggests that the genetic factors underlying Drosophila oviposition site preference are more rapidly influenced when flies have a choice between alternative sources compared to flies permanently exposed to the same aversive substance.

Volatile Drosophila cuticular pheromones are affected by social but not sexual experience.

Recognition of conspecifics and mates is based on a variety of sensory cues that are specific to the species, sex and social status of each individual. The courtship and mating activity of Drosophila melanogaster flies is thought to depend on the olfactory perception of a male-specific volatile pheromone, cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), and the gustatory perception of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs), some of which are sexually dimorphic. Using two complementary sampling methods (headspace Solid Phase Micro-Extraction [SPME] and solvent extraction) coupled with GC-MS analysis, we measured the dispersion of pheromonal CHs in the air and on the substrate around the fly. We also followed the variations in CHs that were induced by social and sexual interactions. We found that all CHs present on the fly body were deposited as a thin layer on the substrate, whereas only a few of these molecules were also detected in the air. Moreover, social experience during early adult development and in mature flies strongly affected male volatile CHs but not cVA, whereas sexual interaction only had a moderate influence on dispersed CHs. Our study suggests that, in addition to their role as contact cues, CHs can influence fly behavior at a distance and that volatile, deposited and body pheromonal CHs participate in a three-step recognition of the chemical identity and social status of insects.

Incipient speciation in Drosophila melanogaster involves chemical signals.

The sensory and genetic bases of incipient speciation between strains of Drosophila melanogaster from Zimbabwe and those from elsewhere are unknown. We studied mating behaviour between eight strains - six from Zimbabwe, together with two cosmopolitan strains. The Zimbabwe strains showed significant sexual isolation when paired with cosmopolitan males, due to Zimbabwe females discriminating against these males. Our results show that flies' cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs) were involved in this sexual isolation, but that visual and acoustic signals were not. The mating frequency of Zimbabwe females was highly significantly negatively correlated with the male's relative amount of 7-tricosene (%7-T), while the mating of cosmopolitan females was positively correlated with %7-T. Variation in transcription levels of two hydrocarbon-determining genes, desat1 and desat2, did not correlate with the observed mating patterns. Our study represents a step forward in our understanding of the sensory processes involved in this classic case of incipient speciation.

Fatty-acid preference changes during development in Drosophila melanogaster.

Fatty-acids (FAs) are required in the diet of many animals throughout their life. However, the mechanisms involved in the perception of and preferences for dietary saturated and unsaturated FAs (SFAs and UFAs, respectively) remain poorly explored, especially in insects. Using the model species Drosophila melanogaster, we measured the responses of wild-type larvae and adults to pure SFAs (14, 16, and 18 carbons) and UFAs (C18 with 1, 2, or 3 double-bonds). Individual and group behavioral tests revealed different preferences in larvae and adults. Larvae preferred UFAs whereas SFAs tended to induce both a strong aversion and a persistent aggregation behavior. Adults generally preferred SFAs, and laid more eggs and had a longer life span when ingesting these substances as compared to UFAs. Our data suggest that insects can discriminate long-chain dietary FAs. The developmental change in preference shown by this species might reflect functional variation in use of FAs or stage-specific nutritional requirements, and may be fundamental for insect use of these major dietary components.