Pheromonal and Behavioral Cues Trigger Male-to-Female Aggression in Drosophila
Figure 3
Feminization of pheromones and behavior in males inhibits aggression from wild type males.
(A) Cumulative percentage of pairs that exhibit lunging. Fights are pairs between a CS male and a male of one of the indicated genotypes (Chi-square test; * p<0.05, *** p<0.001). (B) Percentage of pairs in which CS males lunged at the opponent. No significant differences were found compared to controls (Chi-square test; p>0.05). (C) CS male courtship towards headless male targets within 10 min (ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test; *** p<0.001). (D) Cumulative latency of CS males to attempt copulation (Chi-square test; * p<0.05, *** p<0.001). (E) Number of lunges performed by CS males. Each dot represents the total number of lunges performed by one CS male (Mann Whitney test; * p<0.05, *** p<0.001). (F) Cuticular hydrocarbons were analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The area of individual chromatographic peaks represents the abundance of a specific hydrocarbon species. Compared to controls and elavtraF males, oetraF males exhibit significantly higher levels of female-characteristic pheromones (e.g., 7,11-HD and 7,11-ND) and lower levels of alkanes and male-associated 7-T. Compared to CS males, elavtraF males contained higher levels of alkanes and 7-T (Table 2). T, tricosene; PD, pentacosadiene; P, pentacosene; HD, heptacosadiene; ND, nonacosadiene. Error bars denote s.e.m.