Fig. 3. Mating facilitates defensive response independent with SP.

a Schematic for assays in (b). Defensive response ratio of virgin flies and newly mated females were tested for virgin or mated female defensive response stimulated by naïve males divided by naive male touching times. Male touching times to virgins were counted before copulation, and male touching times to mated females were record for 15 min. b Defensive response ratio was enhanced in newly mated females. n = 9 for each goup. **p < 0. 01, two-tailed unpaired t tests. c Schematic for assays in d. Males were removed after copulation, and mated females were kept for given hours before the defensive response assay. d Copulation-induced increase of defensive response lasted for more than 3 h in decapitated flies. Matched females represented that virgins were placed solely in courtship chambers paralleled with mated females under same preparation. n = 9, 12, 15, and 8 for each group of matched virgins, n = 8, 17, 8, and 8 for each group of mated virgins. **p < 0.01, p > 0.05 (n.s.), two-tailed unpaired t tests. e Female flies of SPR mutant alleles, SPR^MB09357, showed an increase of defensive response after mating. n = 8 for each group. **p < 0. 01, *p < 0.05, two-tailed unpaired t tests. f Virgins mated with SP^null/SP^Df mutant males had a similar post-mating defensive response with virgins mated to Canton S males. n = 16, 7 and 8 for each group. ***p < 0.001, p > 0.05 (n.s.), two-tailed unpaired t tests. Error bars indicate mean ± SEM, n.s., not significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.