Fig. 2. Downregulation of WAKE in early adulthood prompts male-male courtship behaviour.

a The wake transcript target locations of wake dsRNA (wake^RNAi) were elicited using the corresponding UAS-wake dsRNA stocks (UAS-wake^RNAi−1, −2, and −3). b1 Schematic representation of ubiquitous adult-onset activation of wake^RNAi expression using the actin-GeneSwitch and addition of the drug RU486 to food from eclosion to day 5. b2 Schematic representation of the TARGET system. The pan-neuronal elav-Gal4 driver was combined with ubiquitously expressed GAL80^ts to control the transcriptional activity of GAL4 and drive wake^RNAi expression in neurons upon heat induction after eclosion for 5 d. The strength of male-male courtship behaviour was tested at the 6-day time point in both regimens. c The scatterplots for the courtship indices include ± SEM for all data points, n = 16 for test group no. 1–7 and 11–15, p < 0.0001, Kruskal–Wallis test. ^***p < 0.005 and ^****p < 0.0001, post hoc Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. n = 16 for test group no. 8–10, p < 0.0001, one–way ANOVA. ^****p < 0.0001, post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. d The chaining indices include ± SEM for all data points, n = 10 for each, p < 0.0001, Kruskal–Wallis test. ^**p < 0.01, and ^***p < 0.005, post hoc Dunn’s multiple comparisons test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.