Overexpression of the limk1 Gene in Drosophila melanogaster Can Lead to Suppression of Courtship Memory in Males

AbstractCourtship suppression is a behavioral adaptation of the fruit fly. When majority of the females in a fly population are fertilized and non-receptive for mating, a male, after a series of failed attempts, decreases its courtship activity towards all females, saving its energy and reproductive resources. The time of courtship decrease depends on both duration of unsuccessful courtship and genetically determined features of the male nervous system. Thereby, courtship suppression paradigm can be used for studying molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. p-Cofilin, a component of the actin remodeling signaling cascade and product of LIM-kinase  1 (LIMK1), regulatesDrosophila melanogaster forgetting in olfactory learning paradigm. Previously, we have shown thatlimk1 suppression in the specific types of nervous cells differently affects fly courtship memory. Here,  we used Gal4 >  UAS system to inducelimk1 overexpression in the same types of neurons.limk1 activation in the mushroom body, glia, andfruitless neurons decreased learning index compared to the control strain or the strain withlimk1 knockdown. In cholinergic and dopaminergic/serotoninergic neurons, both overexpression and knockdown oflimk1 impairedDrosophila short-term memory. Thus, proper balance of thelimk1activity is crucial for normal cognitive activity of the fruit fly.
Source: Biochemistry (Moscow) - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research