Dataset Information

Selectivity and plasticity in a sound-evoked male-male interaction in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: During courtship, many animals, including insects, birds, fish, and mammals, utilize acoustic signals to transmit information about species identity. Although auditory communication is crucial across phyla, the neuronal and physiologic processes are poorly understood. Sound-evoked chaining behavior, a display of homosexual courtship behavior in Drosophila males, has long been used as an excellent model for analyzing auditory behavior responses, outcomes of acoustic perception and higher-order brain functions. Here we developed a new method, termed ChaIN (Chain Index Numerator), in which we use a computer-based auto detection system for chaining behavior. The ChaIN system can systematically detect the chaining behavior induced by a series of modified courtship song playbacks. Two evolutionarily related Drosophila species, Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans, exhibited dramatic selective increases in chaining behavior when exposed to specific auditory cues, suggesting that auditory discrimination processes are involved in the acceleration of chaining behavior. Prolonged monotonous pulse sounds containing courtship song components also induced high intense chaining behavior. Interestingly, the chaining behavior was gradually suppressed over time when song playback continued. This behavioral change is likely to be a plastic behavior and not a simple sensory adaptation or fatigue, because the suppression was released by applying a different pulse pattern. This behavioral plasticity is not a form of habituation because different modality stimuli did not recover the behavioral suppression. Intriguingly, this plastic behavior partially depended on the cAMP signaling pathway controlled by the rutabaga adenylyl cyclase gene that is important for learning and memory. Taken together, this study demonstrates the selectivity and behavioral kinetics of the sound-induced interacting behavior of Drosophila males, and provides a basis for the systematic analysis of genes and neural circuits underlying complex acoustic behavior.

SUBMITTER: Yoon J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3782482 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Selectivity and plasticity in a sound-evoked male-male interaction in Drosophila.

Yoon Jeonghyeon J Matsuo Eriko E Yamada Daichi D Mizuno Hiroshi H Morimoto Takako T Miyakawa Hiroyoshi H Kinoshita Setsuo S Ishimoto Hiroshi H Kamikouchi Azusa A

PloS one 20130924 9

During courtship, many animals, including insects, birds, fish, and mammals, utilize acoustic signals to transmit information about species identity. Although auditory communication is crucial across phyla, the neuronal and physiologic processes are poorly understood. Sound-evoked chaining behavior, a display of homosexual courtship behavior in Drosophila males, has long been used as an excellent model for analyzing auditory behavior responses, outcomes of acoustic perception and higher-order br ...[more]

PMID: 24086330

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Project description:The exact neurophysiological basis of chronic tinnitus, which affects 10-15% of the population, remains unknown and is controversial at many levels. It is an open question whether phantom sound perception results from increased central neural gain or not, a crucial question for any future therapeutic intervention strategies for tinnitus. We performed a comprehensive study of mild hearing-impaired participants with and without tinnitus, excluding participants with co-occurrences of hyperacusis. A right-hemisphere correlation between tinnitus loudness and auditory perceptual difficulty was observed in the tinnitus group, independent of differences in hearing thresholds. This correlation was linked to reduced and delayed sound-induced suprathreshold auditory brain responses (ABR wave V) in the tinnitus group, suggesting subsided rather than exaggerated central neural responsiveness. When anatomically predefined auditory regions of interest were analysed for altered sound-evoked BOLD fMRI activity, it became evident that subcortical and cortical auditory regions and regions involved in sound detection (posterior insula, hippocampus), responded with reduced BOLD activity in the tinnitus group, emphasizing reduced, rather than increased, central neural gain. Regarding previous findings of evoked BOLD activity being linked to positive connectivities at rest, we additionally analysed r-fcMRI responses in anatomically predefined auditory regions and regions associated with sound detection. A profound reduction in positive interhemispheric connections of homologous auditory brain regions and a decline in the positive connectivities between lower auditory brainstem regions and regions involved in sound detection (hippocampus, posterior insula) were observed in the tinnitus group. The finding went hand-in-hand with the emotional (amygdala, anterior insula) and temporofrontal/stress-regulating regions (prefrontal cortex, inferior frontal gyrus) that were no longer positively connected with auditory cortex regions in the tinnitus group but were instead positively connected to lower-level auditory brainstem regions. Delayed sound processing, reduced sound-evoked BOLD fMRI activity and altered r-fcMRI in the auditory midbrain correlated in the tinnitus group and showed right hemisphere dominance as did tinnitus loudness and perceptual difficulty. The findings suggest that reduced central neural gain in the auditory stream may lead to phantom perception through a failure to energize attentional/stress-regulating networks for contextualization of auditory-specific information. Reduced auditory-specific information flow in tinnitus has until now escaped detection in humans, as low-level auditory brain regions were previously omitted from neuroimaging studies.Trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register DRKS0006332.

Dataset Information

Selectivity and plasticity in a sound-evoked male-male interaction in Drosophila.

Publications

Selectivity and plasticity in a sound-evoked male-male interaction in Drosophila.

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