summary: A new study reveals how fruit flies respond to the stress of repeated mating failures. Researchers observed that male fruit flies faced with repeated sexual rejection showed increased activity, aggression, and antisocial behavior, indicating a stress state such as frustration. This stress response was linked to the neuropeptide F signaling system in the brain, which is important for reward processing and aggression.
This study demonstrated for the first time that social stress in Drosophila caused by mating failure affects the fly’s resilience to other stressors such as starvation and exposure to toxic substances. This study provides valuable insight into the neurobiological basis of social stress in model organisms.
Important facts:
- Repeated mating failure in fruit flies increases activity, aggression, and social withdrawal.
- The stress response is mediated by the neuropeptide F signaling system in the brain.
- This study opens new avenues for studying social stress in simpler organisms.
sauce: agreement
Repeated reproductive failures make fruit flies stressed and irritated, making them less resilient to other types of stress. Julia Ryvkin of Bar-Ilan University and colleagues report in the open access journal PLOS Genetics, published on January 18th.
Animals are motivated to take actions that improve survival and reproduction through reward systems in their brains, but failure causes stress. Although reward systems have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to how animals respond to failure.
To find out, the researchers compared the behavior of male fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) that had experienced repeated sexual rejection to recently mated males and isolated immature males.
They found that rejected men were more active, aggressive and less sociable towards other men, indicating a stress state like frustration.
Rejected males were also less tolerant of two other types of stress: starvation and exposure to toxic herbicides that cause oxidative damage.
To understand how this stress response is controlled in the brain, the researchers manipulated the neuropeptide F signaling system, which is involved in reward processing and aggression.
Blocking the neuropeptide F receptor reduced flies’ resilience to starvation, mimicking the effects of repeated sexual rejection.
Using a technique called optogenetics, which uses light to stimulate the activity of specific cells, the researchers activated neuropeptide F receptor neurons, which also reduced the flies’ ability to withstand starvation. discovered.
These results demonstrate for the first time that Drosophila melanogaster experiences social stress after repeated failed mating attempts. This response is mediated by a brain signaling system involving neuropeptide F. Neuropeptide F also plays a role in reward and stress responses in other organisms.
This provides an opportunity to further investigate social stress in model organisms with simple nervous systems, the authors say.
Funding: This research was supported by Israel Science Foundation grants (384/14 and 174/19 to GSO). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
About this neuroscience and psychology research news
author: charlotte basker
sauce: agreement
contact: Charlotte Bhasker – PLOS
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: Open access.
“Failure to copulate strengthens investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of neuropeptide F receptor neurons.” by Ryvkin J et al. PLOS Genetics
abstract
Failure to copulate strengthens investment in behaviors that may promote mating reward and impairs the ability to cope with stressors via a subpopulation of neuropeptide F receptor neurons.
Living in dynamic environments, such as the social realm, where interactions with others determine an individual’s reproductive success, requires the ability to recognize opportunities to obtain natural rewards and to meet the challenges associated with obtaining them. is.
Therefore, while behaviors that promote survival and reproduction are reinforced by the brain’s reward systems, coping with the challenges associated with obtaining these rewards is mediated by stress response pathways, the activation of which impairs health and shortens lifespan. It may be shorter.
Although much research has been devoted to understanding the mechanisms underlying how natural rewards are processed by reward systems, less attention has been paid to the consequences of failing to obtain desired rewards. yeah.
We used the established courtship inhibition paradigm as a model system to study the effects of failure to obtain natural rewards. Drosophila melanogaster as a means of repeatedly failing male flies to obtain sexual rewards.
Beyond the known reduction in courtship behavior caused by interactions with unreceptive females, we believe that repeated mating failures result in sustained motivation to obtain sexual rewards, and in male-male social interactions. found that it induced a stress response characterized by decreased physical interactions and increased aggression.
This frustration-like state, caused by the conflict between high motivation to obtain sexual rewards and the inability to satisfy the desire to mate, affects the rejected male’s ability to withstand stressors such as starvation and oxidative stress. damage.
Furthermore, we show that starvation sensitivity and increased social arousal are mediated by disinhibition of a small population of neurons expressing receptors for the fly homolog of neuropeptide Y.
Our findings demonstrate for the first time that social stress exists in flies and study the mechanisms underlying the crosstalk between reward, stress, and reproduction in a simple nervous system that is highly amenable to genetic manipulation. It provides a framework.