Group rearing leads to long-term changes in locomotor activity of Drosophila males

Anna A.  Panova; Julia V.  Bragina; Larisa V.  Danilenkova; Natalia G.  Besedina; Elena A.  Kamysheva; Sergey A.  Fedotov; Nikolay G.  Kamyshev

doi:10.4236/ojas.2013.34A2004

Anna A. Panova, Julia V. Bragina, Larisa V. Danilenkova, Natalia G. Besedina, Elena A. Kamysheva, Sergey A. Fedotov, Nikolay G. Kamyshev^*

Abstract: Previous social experience may affect subsequent behavior. It was shown by other authors that Drosophila melanogaster males kept individually are more aggressive and sexually active than males kept in a group. In the present study, we tested the locomotor activity of individual males and females previously reared either individually, or in a group. We found that keeping 20 young males for three days together led to a strong long-term (up to 5 days) reduction in their further locomotor activity as individuals. Rearing of young males in groups of other sizes (2, 5, 10, and 30) produced a smaller or no after-effect. At the same time, we have not found any difference in subsequent behavior of individual females previously kept either individually, or in a group. We suppose that in a group, flies learned to suppress their locomotor activity to prevent unpleasant contacts with other animals (operant learning). It seems that in males this learning is more efficient because of the higher level of aggression producing the stronger negative reinforcement.

Keywords: Drosophila; Social Experience; Group Situation; Locomotor Activity

Cite this paper: Panova, A. , Bragina, J. , Danilenkova, L. , Besedina, N. , Kamysheva, E. , Fedotov, S. and Kamyshev, N. (2013) Group rearing leads to long-term changes in locomotor activity of Drosophila males. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 3, 31-35. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2013.34A2004.

References

[1] Threlkeld, S.F., Procwat, R.A., Abbot, K.S. and Yeung, A.D. (1974) Genetically based behavior patterns in Drosophila. Nature, 247, 232-233.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/247232a0

[2] Bartelt, R., Schaner, A. and Jackson, L. (1985) Cis-vaccenyl acetate as an aggregation pheromone in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 11, 1747-1756.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01012124

[3] Ruan, H. and Wu, C. F. (2008) Social Social interactionmediated lifespan extension of Drosophila Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase mutants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 21, 7506-7510. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0711127105

[4] Sexton, O.J. and Stalker, H.D. (1961) Spacing patterns of female D. paramelanica. Animal Behaviour, 9, 77-81.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(61)90053-7

[5] Manning, A. (1959) The sexual behaviour of two sibling Drosophila. Behaviour, 15, 123-145.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853960X00133

[6] Bastock, M. and Manning, A. (1955) The courtship of Drosophila melanogaster. Behaviour, 8, 85-111.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853955X00184

[7] Connolly, K.J. (1968) The social facilitation of preening behaviour in D. melanogaster. Animal Behaviour, 16, 385-391. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(68)90023-7

[8] Kamyshev, N.G., Smirnova, G.P., Kamysheva, E.A., Nikiforov, O.N., Parafenyuk, I.V. and Ponomarenko, V.V. (2002) Plasticity of social behavior in Drosophila. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 32, 401-408.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1015832328023

[9] Tinette, S., Zhang, L. and Robichon, A. (2004) Cooperation between Drosophila flies in searching behavior. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 3, 39-50.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1601-183x.2003.0046.x

[10] Hoffmann, A.A. (1990) The influence of age and experience with conspecifics on territorial behavior in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Insect Behavior, 3, 1-12.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01049191

[11] Svetec, N. and Ferveur, J.-F. (2005) Social experience and pheromonal perception can change male-male interactions in Drosophila melanogaster. The Journal of Experimental Biology, 208, 891-898.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.01454

[12] Maynard, S.J. (1956) Fertilly, mating behavior and sexual selection in Drosophila subobscura. Journal of Genetics, 54, 261-279. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02982781

[13] Kim, Y.-K., Ehrman, L. and Koepfer, H.R. (1996) Developmental isolation and subsequent adult behavior of Drosophila paulistorum. I Survey of the six semispecies. Behavior Genetics, 22, 545-556.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01074307

[14] Kim, Y-K., Ehrman, L. and Koepfer, H.R. (1996) Developmental isolation and subsequent adult behavior of Drosophila paulistorum. II. Prior experience. Behavior Genetics, 26, 15-25.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02361155

[15] Kent, C., Azanchi, R., Smith, B., Formosa, A. and Levine, J. D. (2008) Social context influences chemical communication in D. melanogaster males. Current Biology, 18, 1384-1389.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.088

[16] Krupp, J. J., Kent, C., Billeter, J.C., Azanchi, R., So, A. K., Schonfeld, J.A., Smith, B.P., Lucas, C. and Levine, J.D. (2008) Social experience modifies pheromone expression and mating behavior in male Drosophila melanogaster. Current Biology, 18, 1373-1383.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.089 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.089

[17] Ritchie, M.G. (2008) Behavioural genetics: The social fly. Current Biology, 23, 862-864.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2008.08.009

[18] Galef, B.G. Jr. and Giraldeau, L. A. (2001) Social influences on foraging in vertebrates: Causal mechanisms and adaptive functions. Animal Behaviour, 61, 3-15.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2000.1557

[19] Free, J.B. (1987) A social insect: the biology of the honey bee. Science, 238, 1591-1592.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.238.4833.1591

[20] Rosengaus, R.B., Jordan, C., Lefebvre, M.L. and Traniello, J.F. (1999) Pathogen alarm behavior in a termite: A new form of communication in social insects. Naturwissenschaften, 86, 544-548.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s001140050672

[21] Rull, J, Procopy, R.J. and Vargas, R.I. (2003) Effects of conspecific presence on arrival and use of hosts in Ceratitis capitata flies. Journal of Insect Behavior, 16, 329-346.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1024871908372

[22] Coolen, I., Dangles, O. and Casas, J. (2005) Social learning in noncolonial insects? Current Biology, 15, 1931-1935. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2005.09.015

[23] Kercmar, J., Büdefeld, T., Grgurevic, N., Tobet, S.A. and Majdic, G. (2011) Adolescent social isolation changes social recognition in adult mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 216, 647-651.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2010.09.007

[24] Schubert, M. I., Porkess, M.V., Dashdorj, N., Fone, K.C. and Auer, D.P. (2009) Effects of social isolation rearing on the limbic brain: A combined behavioral and magnetic resonance imaging volumetry study in rats. Neuroscience, 159, 21-30.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.12.019

[25] Bianchi, M., Fone, K.F., Azmi, N., Heidbreder, C.A., Hagan, J.J. and Marsden, C.A. (2006) Isolation rearing induces recognition memory deficits accompanied by cytoskeletal alterations in rat hippocampus. European Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 2894-2902.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05170.x