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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Oct 7.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Biol. 2019 Sep 26;29(19):3200–3215.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.08.008

Figure 2. Responses to Song Playback Are Sex Specific and Tuned for Multiple Features of Pulse and Sine Song (A and B) Locomotor tuning curves for females.

Figure 2.

(A, magenta) and males (B, gray) for 6 different features of pulse and sine song. Lines and error bars correspond to the mean ± SEM across flies (see Table S1 for a description of all stimuli and n flies).

(C) Distribution of the six different song features tested in (A) and (B) in the natural courtship song of Drosophila melanogaster males (data from 47 males of NM91 wild-type strain totaling 82,643 pulses and 51 min of sine song from 5,269 song bouts). Histograms are normalized to a maximum of 1.0.

(D) Pictograms (not to scale) illustrating each song feature examined in (A)–(C). Pulse and sine song features are marked red and blue, respectively.

(E) Changes in speed for males and females for all pulse (red) and sine (blue) stimuli tested (data are from A, B, and Figure S2). Each dot is the average behavioral response for one pulse or sine stimulus. Responses to sine stimuli are strongly and positively correlated between sexes (r = 0.89, p = 6 × 10−8). Pulse responses are also strongly but negatively correlated (r = −0.63, p = 5 × 10−10). Blue and red lines correspond to linear fits to the responses to sine and pulse song, respectively.

(F) Fraction of trials for which male and female flies extended their wings during the playback of pulse song (five different IPIs as in Figures 1C and 1D) and sine song (150 Hz, quantified only for males). Solitary males (gray) frequently extend their wings in response to pulse but not to sine song. Solitary females (magenta) do not extend wings for pulse song. See also Video S2. p values were obtained from a two-sided chi-square test.

(G) Fraction of trials that evoke wing extension in males (gray) and females (magenta) as a function of IPI. In males, wing extension and locomotor behavior (Figure 1D) exhibit strikingly similar tuning with a peak at the conspecific IPI. Females almost never extend their wing for any IPI.

All behavioral data are from the wild-type strain NM91. All correlation values are Spearman’s rank correlation. See also Figures S1 and S2, Video S2, and Table S1.