miRNAs and neural alternative polyadenylation specify the virgin behavioral state

Abstract

How are diverse regulatory strategies integrated to impose appropriately patterned gene expression that underlie in vivo phenotypes? Here, we reveal how coordinated miRNA regulation and neural-specific alternative polyadenylation (APA) of a single locus controls complex behaviors. Our entry was the unexpected observation that deletion of Bithorax-Complex (BX-C) miRNAs converts virgin female flies into a subjective post-mated behavioral state, normally induced by seminal proteins following copulation. Strikingly, this behavioral switch is directly attributable to misregulation of homothorax (hth). We localize specific CNS abdominal neurons where de-repressed Hth compromises virgin behavior in BX-C miRNA mutants. Moreover, we use genome engineering to demonstrate that precise mutation of hth 3UTR sites for BX-C miRNAs, or deletion of its neural 3 UTR extension containing most of these sites, both induce post-mated behaviors in virgins. Thus, facilitation of miRNA-mediated repression by neural APA is required for virgin females to execute behaviors appropriate to their internal state.