Dopamine and serotonin are both required for mate-copying in Drosophila melanogaster

Magdalena Monier (), Sabine Nöbel (), Etienne Danchin () and Guillaume Isabel
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Magdalena Monier: EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Sabine Nöbel: EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse
Etienne Danchin: EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Guillaume Isabel: CRCA - Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale - UMR5169 - ISCT - Institut des sciences du cerveau de Toulouse. - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - UT - Université de Toulouse - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CHU Toulouse - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CBI - Centre de Biologie Intégrative - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Mate-copying is a form of social learning in which the mate-choice decision of an individual (often a female) is influenced by the mate-choice of conspecifics. Drosophila melanogaster females are known to perform such social learning, and in particular, to mate-copy after a single observation of one conspecific female mating with a male of one phenotype, while the other male phenotype is rejected. Here, we show that this form of social learning is dependent on serotonin and dopamine. Using a pharmacological approach, we reduced dopamine or serotonin synthesis in adult virgin females with 3-iodotyrosine (3-IY) and DL-para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA), respectively, and then tested their mate-copying performance. We found that, while control females without drug treatment copied the choice of the demonstrator, drug-treated females with reduced dopamine or serotonin chose randomly. To ensure the specificity of the drugs, the direct precursors of the neurotransmitters, either the dopamine precursor L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) or the serotonin precursor 5-L-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) were given together with the drug, (respectively 3-IY and PCPA) resulting in a full rescue of the mate-copying defects. This indicates that dopamine and serotonin are both required for mate-copying. These results give a first insight into the mechanistic pathway underlying this form of social learning in D. melanogaster.

Date: 2019-01
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02538261v1
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Published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2019, 12, pp.00334. ⟨10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00334⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02538261

DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00334

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