Skip to main content
. 2021 Jun 16;7(25):eabg6926. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abg6926

Fig. 6. Juvenile hormone directly suppresses multiple components of mating-drive circuitry.

Fig. 6

(A) Mutation of the juvenile hormone receptor Met decreases mating drive in mature males, while mutation of a second juvenile hormone receptor, Gce, does not decrease mating drive in a standard courtship assay. Mutations in both receptors render courtship insensitive to MTPA feeding (one-way ANOVA, only comparisons to the wild-type flies are indicated = 7 to 26). WT, wild type. (B) Using a tap-induced courtship assay to remove the ceiling effect of standard assays shows that mutating Gce increases mating drive and makes courtship impervious to MTPA feeding (bootstrap, n = 28 to 32 males) (C) Model: Juvenile hormone may disrupt Met-Gce dimerization (43), allowing Gce to suppress mating drive. (D) Little or no juvenile courtship is seen in males that are mutant for Met or Gce (n = 12 to 22). (E to G) RNAi knockdown of Met in neurons that store mating-drive information; dopaminergic (E), NPF (F), and pCd neurons (G); decreases courtship behavior [bootstrap, (E): n = 30 to 39 males; (F) n = 28 to 47; (G) n = 29 to 32)]. (H to J) Knocking down Gce in dopaminergic (H), NPF (I), and pCd neurons (J) increases mating drive [bootstrap, (H) n = 30 males each; (I) n = 28 to 33; (J) n = 29 to 30)]. (K) Model.