Pleiotropic effects of Drosophila neuralized on complex behaviors and brain structure.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how genotypic variation influences variation in brain structures and behavioral phenotypes represents a central challenge in behavioral genetics. In Drosophila melanogaster, the neuralized (neur) gene plays a key role in development of the nervous system. Different P-element insertional mutations of neur allow the development of viable and fertile adults with profoundly altered behavioral phenotypes that depend on the exact location of the inserted P element. The neur mutants exhibit reduced responsiveness to noxious olfactory and mechanosensory stimulation and increased aggression when limited food is presented after a period of food deprivation. These behavioral phenotypes are correlated with distinct structural changes in integrative centers in the brain, the mushroom bodi

SUBMITTER: Rollmann SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2475736 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature