Fruitless is in the Regulatory Pathway by Which Ectopic Mini-White and Transformer Induce Bisexual Courtship in Drosophila

Abstract

Bisexual courtship in male Drosophila melanogaster may be induced in some circumstances. These include ectopic expression of the transformer (tra) gene, ectopic expression of the mini-white (mw) gene, and the homozygous presence of mutant alleles of the fruitless (fru) gene. Experiments were performed to determine if ectopic mw and fru, as well as ectopic tra and fru, acted in the same pathway to control courtship. Male flies homozygous for the fru^sat allele court females little if at all and males at a low level. When homozygous, the fru^sat allele suppresses the bisexual courtship induced by both ectopic mw and ectopic tra, indicating that the fru wild-type function is necessary for expression of the ectopic mw and ectopic tra effect. This demonstrates that fru shares a pathway controlling courtship behavior with these ectopically expressed genes.

Key Words:

• Sex-determination
• behavioral mutant
• transgenic courtship
• sexual orientation
• Drosophila melanogaster