Biological rhythm mutations affect an experience-dependent modification of male courtship behavior inDrosophila melanogaster

Summary

Male courtship behavior in the fruitflyDrosophila melanogaster can be altered by experience and the normal experience-dependent behavioral modification does not occur in flies carrying mutations known to affect conditioned responses (Siegel and Hall 1979; Gailey et al. 1982). The conditioned modification of male courtship is also disrupted by any of 5 independently isolated mutations (per ^l,per ^l2,Andante, psi-2 and psi-3) that bring about longer period biological rhythms (Table 1). However, males carrying eitherper ^s orper ^o, which have shortened periods and arrhythmic behavior, respectively, are normally conditioned. The failure ofper ^lmales to respond normally to conditioning cues cannot easily be accounted for by a second mutation outside the clock locus or by multigenic factors. Indeed, the genetic lesion which is responsible for the defective behavioral modification ofper ^lmutants maps to the chromosomal interval in which theper locus itself resides (Table 3). The aberrant behavior ofper ^lmutants might be a result of their abnormal daily periodicity, but it cannot be explained by a change in the time of day for optimal conditioning (Table 4). Alternatively, the poor conditioning performance of longperiod clock mutants may indicate that short-cycle endogenous timing mechanisms play an integral role in conditioning behavior.