Sexually experienced male Drosophila melanogaster uses gustatory-to-neuropeptide integrative circuits to reduce time investment for mating

Abstract

Males rely on a time investment strategy to maximize reproductive success. Here we report a novel behavioral plasticity whereby male fruit flies exhibit a shortened mating duration when sexually satiated, which we named Shorter-Mating-Duration (SMD). SMD requires the sexually dimorphic Gr5a-positive neurons for detecting female body pheromones. The memory circuitry within the ellipsoid body (EB) and mushroom body (MB) brain regions is crucial for SMD, which depends on the circadian clock genes Clock and cycle, but not timeless or period. SMD also relies on signaling via the neuropeptide sNPF, but not PDF or NPF. Sexual experience modifies the neuronal activity of a subset of sNPF-positive neurons involved in neuropeptide signaling, which modulates SMD. Thus, our study delineates the molecular and cellular basis for SMD - a plastic social behavior that serves as a model system to study how the brain switches the internal states between sexual drive and satiety.