@article {65311, title = {Behavioral features of motivated response to alcohol in Drosophila.}, journal = {bioRxiv}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Feb 17}, abstract = {

Animals avoid predators and find the best food and mates by learning from the consequences of their behavior. However, reinforcers are not always uniquely appetitive or aversive but can have complex properties. Most intoxicating substances fall within this category; provoking aversive sensory and physiological reactions while simultaneously inducing overwhelming appetitive properties. Here we describe the subtle behavioral features associated with continued seeking for alcohol despite aversive consequences. We developed an automated runway apparatus to measure how Drosophila respond to consecutive exposures of a volatilized substance. Behavior within this Behavioral Expression of Ethanol Reinforcement Runway (BEER Run) demonstrated a defined shift from aversive to appetitive responses to volatilized ethanol. Behavioral metrics attained by combining computer vision and machine learning methods, reveal that a subset of 9 classified behaviors and component behavioral features associate with this shift. We propose this combination of 9 be

}, author = {Catalano, Jamie L. and Mei, Nicholas and Azanchi, Reza and Song, Sophia and Blackwater, Tyler and Heberlein, Ulrike and Kaun, Karla R.} } @article {46596, title = {Competing dopamine neurons drive oviposition choice for ethanol in Drosophila.}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, volume = {110}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Dec 24}, pages = {21153-8}, abstract = {

The neural circuits that mediate behavioral choice evaluate and integrate information from the environment with internal demands and then initiate a behavioral response. Even circuits that support simple decisions remain poorly understood. In Drosophila melanogaster, oviposition on a substrate containing ethanol enhances fitness; however, little is known about the neural mechanisms mediating this important choice behavior. Here, we characterize the neural modulation of this simple choice and show that distinct subsets of dopaminergic neurons compete to either enhance or inhibit egg-laying preference for ethanol-containing food. Moreover, activity in α{\textquoteright}β{\textquoteright} neurons of the mushroom body and a subset of ellipsoid body ring neurons (R2) is required for this choice. We propose a model where competing dopaminergic systems modulate oviposition preference to adjust to changes in natural oviposition substrates.

}, keywords = {Analysis of Variance, Animals, Choice Behavior, Dopaminergic Neurons, Drosophila melanogaster, Ethanol, Female, Fermentation, Fruit, Mushroom Bodies, Oviposition}, issn = {1091-6490}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1320208110}, author = {Azanchi, Reza and Kaun, Karla R and Heberlein, Ulrike} } @article {6654, title = {Regulation of onset of female mating and sex pheromone production by juvenile hormone in Drosophila melanogaster.}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America}, volume = {110}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Nov 5}, pages = {18321-6}, abstract = {Juvenile hormone (JH) coordinates timing of female reproductive maturation in most insects. In Drosophila melanogaster, JH plays roles in both mating and egg maturation. However, very little is known about the molecular pathways associated with mating. Our behavioral analysis of females genetically lacking the corpora allata, the glands that produce JH, showed that they were courted less by males and mated later than control females. Application of the JH mimic, methoprene, to the allatectomized females just after eclosion rescued both the male courtship and the mating delay. Our studies of the null mutants of the JH receptors, Methoprene tolerant (Met) and germ cell-expressed (gce), showed that lack of Met in Met(27) females delayed the onset of mating, whereas lack of Gce had little effect. The Met(27) females were shown to be more attractive but less behaviorally receptive to copulation attempts. The behavioral but not the attractiveness phenotype was rescued by the Met genomic transgene. Analysis of the female cuticular hydrocarbon profiles showed that corpora allata ablation caused a delay in production of the major female-specific sex pheromones (the 7,11-C27 and -C29 dienes) and a change in the cuticular hydrocarbon blend. In the Met(27) null mutant, by 48 h, the major C27 diene was greatly increased relative to wild type. In contrast, the gce(2.5k) null mutant females were courted similarly to control females despite changes in certain cuticular hydrocarbons. Our findings indicate that JH acts primarily via Met to modulate the timing of onset of female sex pheromone production and mating.}, issn = {1091-6490}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1318119110}, author = {Bilen, Julide and Atallah, Jade and Azanchi, Reza and Levine, Joel D and Riddiford, Lynn M} } @article {4524, title = {A Drosophila model for alcohol reward.}, journal = {Nature Neuroscience}, volume = {14}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 May}, pages = {612-9}, abstract = {

The rewarding properties of drugs contribute to the development of abuse and addiction. We developed a new assay for investigating the motivational properties of ethanol in the genetically tractable model Drosophila melanogaster. Flies learned to associate cues with ethanol intoxication and, although transiently aversive, the experience led to a long-lasting attraction for the ethanol-paired cue, implying that intoxication is rewarding. Temporally blocking transmission in dopaminergic neurons revealed that flies require activation of these neurons to express, but not develop, conditioned preference for ethanol-associated cues. Moreover, flies acquired, consolidated and retrieved these rewarding memories using distinct sets of neurons in the mushroom body. Finally, mutations in scabrous, encoding a fibrinogen-related peptide that regulates Notch signaling, disrupted the formation of memories for ethanol reward. Our results thus establish that Drosophila can be useful for understanding the molecular, genetic and neural mechanisms underling the rewarding properties of ethanol.

}, keywords = {Alcohol-Related Disorders, Alcohols, Analysis of Variance, Animal, Animals, Behavior, Chromatography, Conditioning (Psychology), Disease Models, Dopamine, Drosophila, Drosophila Proteins, Electric Stimulation, Ethanol, Food Preferences, Genetically Modified, Green Fluorescent Proteins, High Pressure Liquid, Male, Maze Learning, Mushroom Bodies, Neurons, Odors, Reward, Synaptic Transmission, Time Factors, Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase}, issn = {1546-1726}, doi = {10.1038/nn.2805}, author = {Kaun, Karla R and Azanchi, Reza and Maung, Zaw and Hirsh, Jay and Heberlein, Ulrike} }