Alcohol potentiates a pheromone signal in flies
Abstract
For decades, numerous researchers have documented the presence of the fruit fly or Drosophila melanogaster on alcohol-containing food sources. Although fruit flies are a common laboratory model organism of choice, there is relatively little understood about the ethological relationship between flies and ethanol. In this study, we find that when male flies inhabit ethanol-containing food substrates they become more aggressive. We identify a possible mechanism for this behavior. The odor of ethanol potentiates the activity of sensory neurons in response to an aggression-promoting pheromone. Finally, we observed that the odor of ethanol also promotes attraction to a food-related citrus odor. Understanding how flies interact with the complex natural environment they inhabit can provide valuable insight into how different natural stimuli are integrated to promote fundamental behaviors.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
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Author details
Funding
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (2R01AA01803706A1)
- Nigel S Atkinson
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (F31AA027160)
- Annie Park
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (T32AA07471)
- Annie Park
National Institutes of Health (R01DC015230)
- Dean P Smith
National Institutes of Health (5T32GM008203)
- Elizabeth A Scheuermann
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2020, Park et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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