Changes in splicing and neuromodulatory gene expression programs in sensory neurons with pheromone signaling and social experience

Abstract

Social experience and pheromone signaling in olfactory neurons affect neuronal responses and male courtship behaviors in Drosophila. We previously showed that social experience and pheromone signaling modulate chromatin around behavioral switch gene fruitless, which encodes a transcription factor necessary and sufficient for male behaviors. Fruitless drives social experience dependent modulation of courtship behaviors and pheromone responses in sensory neurons, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this neuromodulation remain less clear. To identify the molecular mechanisms driving social experience-dependent neuromodulation, we performed RNA-seq from antennal samples of mutants in pheromone receptors and fruitless, as well as grouped or isolated wild-type males. We found that loss of pheromone detection differentially alters the levels of fruitless exons suggesting changes in splicing patterns. In addition, many Fruitless target neuromodulatory genes, such as neurotransmitter receptors, ion channels, ion and membrane transporters, and odorant binding proteins are differentially regulated by social context and pheromone signaling. Recent studies showed that social experience and juvenile hormone signaling coregulate fru chromatin to modify pheromone responses in olfactory neurons. Interestingly, genes involved in juvenile hormone metabolism are also misregulated in different social contexts and mutant backgrounds. Our results suggest that modulation of neuronal activity and behaviors in response to social experience and pheromone signaling likely arise due to large-scale changes in transcriptional programs for neuromodulators downstream of behavioral switch gene function.