Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Mating regulates the available combinations of neuromodulators in Drosophila reproductive-tract regions. This results in a combinatorial “code” of neuromodulators that changes with place and time, and is proposed to coordinate functional changes along the reproductive tract in response to mating (Current Biology. 24, 731–737). These false-colored images show octopamine, serotonin, dromyosuppressin, or nNOS immunoreactivity in different regions of the Drosophila reproductive tracts of unmated females or of females at different times post-mating. The top row shows seminal receptacles (plus lower common oviduct in the image on the right) of unmated females, stained for n-NOS. The second row shows n-NOS staining of a seminal receptacle and uterus (left image) and seminal receptacle (right image) of females after mating to males that lacked seminal proteins (at 20′ and 180′, post-mating, respectively). The third row shows octopamine staining of uteri (and seminal receptacle also, in the left image) of females 24 hr after mating to wild-type males. The bottom row shows common oviducts of females after mating to wild-type males. The image on the left is stained for the FMRFamide dromyosuppressin, at 90′ post-mating; the image on the right is stained for serotonin, at 180′ post-mating. Graphics by Zohar Nir-Amitin.
DOI: 10.1002/mrd.22338
Authors: Yael Heifetz, Mariana F. Wolfner
Institutions: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Cornell University
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2082859980