Juvenile Hormone Is Required in Adult Males for Drosophila Courtship

PLoS One. 2016 Mar 22;11(3):e0151912. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151912. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Juvenile Hormone (JH) has a prominent role in the regulation of insect development. Much less is known about its roles in adults, although functions in reproductive maturation have been described. In adult females, JH has been shown to regulate egg maturation and mating. To examine a role for JH in male reproductive behavior we created males with reduced levels of Juvenile Hormone Acid O-Methyl Transferase (JHAMT) and tested them for courtship. JHAMT regulates the last step of JH biosynthesis in the Corpora Allata (CA), the organ of JH synthesis. Males with reduced levels of JHAMT showed a reduction in courtship that could be rescued by application of Methoprene, a JH analog, shortly before the courtship assays were performed. In agreement with this, reducing JHAMT conditionally in mature flies led to courtship defects that were rescuable by Methoprene. The same result was also observed when the CA were conditionally ablated by the expression of a cellular toxin. Our findings demonstrate that JH plays an important physiological role in the regulation of male mating behavior.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Corpora Allata / drug effects
  • Corpora Allata / metabolism
  • Corpora Allata / physiology
  • Courtship
  • Drosophila / drug effects
  • Drosophila / metabolism*
  • Drosophila / physiology*
  • Juvenile Hormones / metabolism*
  • Larva / drug effects
  • Larva / metabolism
  • Larva / physiology
  • Male
  • Methoprene / pharmacology
  • Reproduction / drug effects
  • Reproduction / physiology
  • Sexual Behavior, Animal / drug effects
  • Sexual Behavior, Animal / physiology*

Substances

  • Juvenile Hormones
  • Methoprene

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation (nsf.gov) Grant number IOS-0919697. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.