Whitney Humphrey Dr. Barbara Taylor HHMI Summer Program

 Understanding of the interaction between the central nervous system and behavior.  Neurological diseases in humans  Sex Determination and Sexual Orientation in flies

 Ideal model organisms for studying genetics  Short generation time  Many strains exists

Courtship Aggression

In females, a cascade is initiated and through splicing events produce a female-specific transcript encoding a female-specific protein: -Doublesex F (Dsx F ) In males, a cascade is initiated but different splicing events produce male-specific transcripts encoding male-specific proteins: -Fruitless M (Fru M ) -Doublesex M (Dsx M )

Expected behavior: -Males court females -Production of song -Copulation Unexpected behavior: -Female-male courtship interrupted -Male-male courtship observed -This event is referred to as chaining. -May or may not be song but copulation does not occur Deficiencies Fru 3, Fru 4 (P-element inserts) Fru 1 (Inversion)

DL Cycle: 12-hours lights on, 12-hours lights off Males: Anticipate lights on and have very little activity during the day (siesta) Females: Do not anticipate lights on and do not take a siesta.

How we measure activity: The DL cycle: 9: :59 – Lights on 21:00 - 8:59 – Lights off

Individual Raw Data Lights onLights off n = 20

n = 10

n = 12

 A roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes. CS A Fru 440 x Fru sat15

 Initially, we investigated if mutations in fruitless affected the male pattern of activity in flies.  We conclude that fruitless does not affect sex- specific activity cycles.  However, fruitless mutants show levels of decreased activity.  We also discovered that the fruitless mutants with deficiencies did not have a 24-hour period.

 Dr. Barbara Taylor  Dr. Jaga Giebultowicz  Will Gibson  Eileen Chow  Dr. Kevin Ahern  HHMI Summer Undergraduate Research Program