@article {65859,
	title = {Neural circuit mechanisms of sexual receptivity in Drosophila females.},
	journal = {Nature},
	volume = {589},
	year = {2021},
	month = {2021 Jan 01},
	pages = {577-81},
	abstract = {<p>Choosing a mate is one of the most consequential decisions a female will make during her lifetime. A female fly signals her willingness to mate by opening her vaginal plates, allowing a courting male to copulate. Vaginal plate opening (VPO) occurs in response to the male courtship song and is dependent on the mating status\&nbsp;of the female. How these exteroceptive (song) and interoceptive (mating status) inputs are integrated to regulate VPO remains unknown. Here we characterize the neural circuitry that implements mating decisions in the brain of female Drosophila melanogaster. We show that VPO is controlled by a pair of female-specific descending neurons (vpoDNs). The vpoDNs receive excitatory input from auditory neurons (vpoENs), which are tuned to specific features of the D. melanogaster song, and from pC1 neurons, which encode the mating status\&nbsp;of the female. The song responses of vpoDNs, but not vpoENs, are attenuated upon mating, accounting for the reduced receptivity of mated females. This modulation is mediated by pC1 neurons. The vpoDNs thus directly integrate the external and internal signals that control the mating decisions of Drosophila females.</p>
},
	issn = {1476-4687},
	doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2972-7},
	author = {Wang, Kaiyu and Wang, Fei and Forknall, Nora and Yang, Tansy and Patrick, Christopher and Parekh, Ruchi and Dickson, Barry J}
}
@article {65317,
	title = {Neural circuitry linking mating and egg laying in Drosophila females.},
	journal = {Nature},
	volume = {579},
	year = {2020},
	month = {2020 Mar 02},
	pages = {101-105},
	abstract = {<p>Mating and egg laying are tightly cooordinated events in the reproductive life of\&nbsp;all oviparous females. Oviposition is typically rare in virgin females but is initiated after copulation. Here we identify the neural circuitry that links egg laying to mating status in Drosophila melanogaster. Activation of female-specific oviposition descending neurons (oviDNs) is necessary and sufficient for egg laying, and is equally potent in virgin and mated females. After mating, sex peptide-a protein from the male seminal fluid-triggers many behavioural and physiological changes in the female, including the onset of egg laying. Sex peptide is detected by sensory neurons in the uterus, and silences these neurons and their postsynaptic ascending neurons in the abdominal ganglion. We show that these\&nbsp;abdominal ganglion neurons directly activate the female-specific pC1 neurons. GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric-acid-releasing) oviposition inhibitory neurons (oviINs) mediate feed-forward inhibition from pC1 neurons to both oviDNs and their major excitatory input, the oviposition excitatory neurons (oviENs). By attenuating the abdominal ganglion inputs to pC1 neurons and oviINs, sex peptide disinhibits oviDNs to enable egg laying after mating. This circuitry thus coordinates the two key events in female reproduction: mating and egg laying.</p>
},
	issn = {1476-4687},
	doi = {10.1038/s41586-020-2055-9},
	author = {Wang, Fei and Wang, Kaiyu and Forknall, Nora and Patrick, Christopher and Yang, Tansy and Parekh, Ruchi and Bock, Davi and Dickson, Barry J}
}
