Year: 2019
Type: preprint
Abstract: Alcohol-induced aggression is a destructive and widespread phenomenon, but we understand very little about the mechanisms that produce this behavior. We found that two different alcohol exposures potentiate aggression in male flies. (1) A pharmacologically relevant dose of alcohol increases aggression and decreases a goal-directed behavior in male flies. (2) In addition, the odor of alcohol itself enhances intermale aggression by potentiating olfactory signaling by cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVa), a volatile male pheromone. Characterizing these behaviors in the genetically tractable fruit fly can lead to a better understanding of the molecular correlates that regulate alcohol-induced aggression in humans and provide insights into an ethologically relevant behavior. One Sentence Summary We identified two pathways through which alcohol stimulates intermale aggression in flies; one acts by potentiating a male olfactory pheromone while the other is mediated by the systemic effects of alcohol.
DOI: 10.1101/685529
Authors: Annie Park, Tracy Tran, Elizabeth Scheuermann, Linda Gutierrez, Christopher Stojanik, Julian Plyler, Grace Thompson, Dean Smith, Nigel S. Atkinson
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Aminophospholipid Signaling in Olfactory Transduction, Cell and Molecular Biology Training Grant, Neurogenetic Basis of Sexually Dimorphic Alcohol Behaviors in Drosophila, Epigenetic dissection of functional ethanol tolerance and dependence, Neurochemical & Behavioral Correlates of ETOH Effects
OpenAlex ID: W2956157195