Drosophila female-specific brain neuron elicits persistent position- and direction-selective male-like social behaviors

Latent neural circuitry in the female brain encoding male-like mating behaviors has been revealed in both mice and flies. In Drosophila, a key component of this circuitry consists of the doublesex-expressing pC1 neurons, which were deemed to exist in both sexes and function based on the amount of cells being activated. Here, we identify pC1-alpha, a female-specific subtype of pC1, as responsible for inducing persistent male-like social behaviors in females. We demonstrate that activation of a single pC1-alpha neuron is sufficient for such induction in a position- and direction-selective manner, and activity of pC1-alpha neurons as a whole is indispensable for maintaining normal sexual receptivity. These dual functions of pC1-alpha may require different neurotransmission, with acetylcholine specifically required for the former but not the latter. Our findings suggest that pC1-alpha may be the female counterpart of male P1 due to their shared similarities in morphology, lineage, and social promoting function.