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Persistent One-Way Walking in a Circular Arena in Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S Strain

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Abstract

We describe persistent one-way walking of Drosophila melanogaster in a circular arena. Wild-type Canton-S adult flies walked in one direction, counter-clockwise or clockwise, for minutes, whereas white-eyed mutant \(w^{1118}\) changed directions frequently. Locomotion in the circular arena could be classified into four components: counter-clockwise walking, clockwise walking, nondirectional walking and pausing. Genetic analysis revealed that while wild-type genetic background was associated with reduced directional change and reduced numbers of one-way (including counter-clockwise and clockwise) and nondirectional walks, the white (\(w^+\)) locus promoted persistent one-way walking by increasing the maximal duration of one-way episodes. The promoting effect of \(w^+\) was further supported by the observations that (1) \(w^+\) duplicated to the Y chromosome, (2) four genomic copies of mini-white inserted on the autosomes, and (3) pan-neuronal overexpression of the White protein increased the maximal duration of one-way episodes, and that RNAi knockdown of \(w^+\) in the neurons decreased the maximal duration of one-way episodes. These results suggested a pleiotropic function of \(w^+\) in promoting persistent one-way walking in the circular arena.

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Funding

This study was funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Grant (RGPIN 40930-09) to R.M.R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

    Chengfeng Xiao, Shuang Qiu & R. Meldrum Robertson

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  1. Chengfeng Xiao
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  2. Shuang Qiu
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  3. R. Meldrum Robertson
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Correspondence to Chengfeng Xiao.

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Edited by Yong-Kyu Kim.

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Xiao, C., Qiu, S. & Robertson, R.M. Persistent One-Way Walking in a Circular Arena in Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S Strain. Behav Genet 48, 80–93 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-017-9881-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-017-9881-z

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