通过克隆激活表达雄性决定因子FruM的神经元，小组确定了胰岛素样肽产生细胞（IPCs）及其假定的突触后靶点，即吻神经支配运动神经元，是赠送礼物的关键细胞。研究人员发现，亚山蛙IPCs中FruM的缺失会抑制神经突的延伸和送礼，而黑腹蟾蜍IPCs中FruM的过表达会诱导含有功能性突触的神经突过度生长，最终导致反流增加。小组认为，通过IPCs获得FruM表达是发生在祖先D. subbobscura中的一个关键事件，该事件赋予了D. subbobscura进行婚礼礼物赠送的潜在能力。
据悉，在接受交配的雄性时，亚subobscura果蝇雌性需要雄性将反刍的作物内容物口对口地喂给她作为结婚礼物。在黑腹龙中没有发现类似的行为。
附：英文原文
Title: Cross-species implementation of an innate courtship behavior by manipulation of the sex-determinant gene
Author: Ryoya Tanaka, Yusuke Hara, Kosei Sato, Soh Kohatsu, Hinata Murakami, Tomohiro Higuchi, Takeshi Awasaki, Shu Kondo, Atsushi Toyoda, Azusa Kamikouchi, Daisuke Yamamoto
Issue&Volume: 2025-08-14
Abstract: In accepting a courting male, Drosophila subobscura females require nuptial gift giving in which a male gives regurgitated crop contents to her mouth to mouth. No similar behavior is found in D. melanogaster. By clonal activation of neurons expressing the male-determinant FruM, we identified insulin-like peptide–producing cells (IPCs) and their putative postsynaptic targets, proboscis-innervating motoneurons, as those critical for gift giving. We demonstrate that loss of FruM from D. subobscura IPCs abrogates neurite extension and gift giving, whereas FruM overexpression in their D. melanogaster counterparts induces overgrowth of neurites that harbor functional synapses, culminating in increased regurgitation. We suggest that the acquisition of FruM expression by IPCs was a key event occurring in an ancestral D. subobscura that conferred a latent capability to perform nuptial gift giving.
DOI: adp5831
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp5831