美国霍华德·休斯医学研究所Barry J. Dickson研究组近日取得一项新成果。他们揭示了果蝇雌性交配的神经回路机制。2020年11月25日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

他们描述了在果蝇大脑中执行交配决策的神经回路。他们显示阴道板开口（VPO）由一对雌性特定的降序神经元（vpoDNs）控制。vpoDNs从听觉神经元（vpoENs）和pC1神经元收到刺激性输入，听觉神经元被调节到果蝇歌曲的特定特征，而pC1神经元编码了雌性的交配状态。交配时，vpoDN而不是vpoEN的歌曲响应减弱，这说明交配雌性的接受能力降低。这种调节是由pC1神经元介导的。因此，vpoDN直接整合控制果蝇雌性交配决定的外部和内部信号。

据介绍，择偶是雌性一生中最重要的决定之一。雌蝇通过打开阴道板来表示愿意交配，允许配对雄性交配。VPO响应于雄性求爱歌曲而发生，并且取决于女性的交配状态。这些外部感受性（歌曲）和感知性（交配状态）输入如何集成以调节VPO仍然未知。

附：英文原文

Title: Neural circuit mechanisms of sexual receptivity in Drosophila females

Author: Kaiyu Wang, Fei Wang, Nora Forknall, Tansy Yang, Christopher Patrick, Ruchi Parekh, Barry J. Dickson

Issue&Volume: 2020-11-25

Abstract: Choosing a mate is one of the most consequential decisions a female will make during her lifetime. A female fly signals her willingness to mate by opening her vaginal plates, allowing a courting male to copulate1,2. Vaginal plate opening (VPO) occurs in response to the male courtship song and is dependent on the mating status of the female. How these exteroceptive (song) and interoceptive (mating status) inputs are integrated to regulate VPO remains unknown. Here we characterize the neural circuitry that implements mating decisions in the brain of female Drosophila melanogaster. We show that VPO is controlled by a pair of female-specific descending neurons (vpoDNs). The vpoDNs receive excitatory input from auditory neurons (vpoENs), which are tuned to specific features of the D. melanogaster song, and from pC1 neurons, which encode the mating status of the female3,4. The song responses of vpoDNs, but not vpoENs, are attenuated upon mating, accounting for the reduced receptivity of mated females. This modulation is mediated by pC1 neurons. The vpoDNs thus directly integrate the external and internal signals that control the mating decisions of Drosophila females. In Drosophila melanogaster, female mating decisions are governed by female-specific descending neurons that integrate input from auditory neurons that respond to features of the song of a conspecific male and central neurons that encode the mating status of the female.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2972-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2972-7