TY - JOUR TI - The neuropeptide tachykinin is essential for pheromone detection in a gustatory neural circuit AU - Shankar, Shruti AU - Chua, Jia Yi AU - Tan, Kah Junn AU - Calvert, Meredith EK AU - Weng, Ruifen AU - Ng, Wan Chin AU - Mori, Kenji AU - Yew, Joanne Y A2 - Griffith, Leslie C VL - 4 PY - 2015 DA - 2015/06/17 SP - e06914 C1 - eLife 2015;4:e06914 DO - 10.7554/eLife.06914 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06914 AB - Gustatory pheromones play an essential role in shaping the behavior of many organisms. However, little is known about the processing of taste pheromones in higher order brain centers. Here, we describe a male-specific gustatory circuit in Drosophila that underlies the detection of the anti-aphrodisiac pheromone (3R,11Z,19Z)-3-acetoxy-11,19-octacosadien-1-ol (CH503). Using behavioral analysis, genetic manipulation, and live calcium imaging, we show that Gr68a-expressing neurons on the forelegs of male flies exhibit a sexually dimorphic physiological response to the pheromone and relay information to the central brain via peptidergic neurons. The release of tachykinin from 8 to 10 cells within the subesophageal zone is required for the pheromone-triggered courtship suppression. Taken together, this work describes a neuropeptide-modulated central brain circuit that underlies the programmed behavioral response to a gustatory sex pheromone. These results will allow further examination of the molecular basis by which innate behaviors are modulated by gustatory cues and physiological state. KW - CH503 KW - courtship KW - behavior KW - anti-aphrodisiac KW - NPF KW - calcium imaging JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -