Presentation Details
| Gene expression correlates of social information in Drosophila melanogaster Julia Saltz1, Marina Hutchins2, Kim Hughes3. 1Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.2University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA.3Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA |
Abstract
Many animals use information obtained from observing conspecifics to make decisions critical for fitness and other outcomes. The mechanisms by which individuals collect and use social information are often unclear. Recently, we described how male fruit flies, D. melanogaster, use social information to decide how much aggression to direct towards the males they observed. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of this effect by analyzing gene expression from heads of males that observed zero, one, or two interacting demonstrators. These treatments allowed us to disentangle social information from handling stress and from any priming effects of observing another male without observing aggression. We used network analyses to identify modules of co-expressed transcripts associated with social information. By the time of the conference, we'll have information about genes and mechanisms are enriched within these key modules. Overall, this study provides hints about how social information gets inside observers to shape their later behavior.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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