Variation and Variability in Drosophila Grooming Behavior

Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Neil Zhang¹  Julie H. Simpson²  Jean M. Carlson³  Joshua M. Mueller⁴ 

[1] Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Dynamical Neuroscience, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States;

关键词: Drosophila;    variability;    variation;    neural circuits;    motor sequence;    behavior;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnbeh.2021.769372

 received in 2021-09-01, accepted in 2021-12-13,  发布年份 2022

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Behavioral differences can be observed between species or populations (variation) or between individuals in a genetically similar population (variability). Here, we investigate genetic differences as a possible source of variation and variability in Drosophila grooming. Grooming confers survival and social benefits. Grooming features of five Drosophila species exposed to a dust irritant were analyzed. Aspects of grooming behavior, such as anterior to posterior progression, were conserved between and within species. However, significant differences in activity levels, proportion of time spent in different cleaning movements, and grooming syntax were identified between species. All species tested showed individual variability in the order and duration of action sequences. Genetic diversity was not found to correlate with grooming variability within a species: melanogaster flies bred to increase or decrease genetic heterogeneity exhibited similar variability in grooming syntax. Individual flies observed on consecutive days also showed grooming sequence variability. Standardization of sensory input using optogenetics reduced but did not eliminate this variability. In aggregate, these data suggest that sequence variability may be a conserved feature of grooming behavior itself. These results also demonstrate that large genetic differences result in distinguishable grooming phenotypes (variation), but that genetic heterogeneity within a population does not necessarily correspond to an increase in the range of grooming behavior (variability).

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2022 Mueller, Zhang, Carlson and Simpson.