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bioRxiv · 10.1101/685529

Alcohol increases aggression in flies

Park, A.·Tran, T.·Scheuermann, E.·Gutierrez, L.·Stojanik, C.·Plyler, J.·Thompson, G.·Smith, D.·Atkinson, N. S.
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Abstract

Alcohol-induced aggression is a destructive and widespread phenomenon, but we understand very little about the mechanisms that produce this behavior. We found that two different alcohol exposures potentiate aggression in male flies. (1) A pharmacologically relevant dose of alcohol increases aggression and decreases a goal-directed behavior in male flies. (2) In addition, the odor of alcohol itself enhances intermale aggression by potentiating olfactory signaling by cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVa), a volatile male pheromone. Characterizing these behaviors in the genetically tractable fruit fly can lead to a better understanding of the molecular correlates that regulate alcohol-induced aggression in humans and provide insights into an ethologically relevant behavior.\n\nOne Sentence SummaryWe identified two pathways through which alcohol stimulates intermale aggression in flies; one acts by potentiating a male olfactory pheromone while the other is mediated by the systemic effects of alcohol.

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Park, A., Tran, T., Scheuermann, E., Gutierrez, L., Stojanik, C., Plyler, J., Thompson, G., Smith, D., Atkinson, N. S.. 2019-06-27. Alcohol increases aggression in flies. https://doi.org/10.1101/685529

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