Neurogenetic Basis of Sexually Dimorphic Alcohol Behaviors in Drosophila

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Project Summary Alcoholism causes an immense social and economic burden world-wide. Both male and female humans are susceptible to alcoholism, but there exist sexual dimorphisms of alcohol-related behaviors whose neurogenetic mechanisms remain elusive. Historically, sexually dimorphic alcohol behaviors have been understudied even though they are important to uncover to understand the basis of the disease. Our lab has developed a novel ethanol preference assay called BARCODE, which was used to discover a previously undescribed sexually dimorphic preference for alcohol. Aim 1a and 2a focuses on uncovering the neuronal basis of sexually dimorphic alcohol preference by silencing and genetically feminizing neurons that project to a sexually dimorphic region of the fly brain and measuring alcohol preference using BARCODE. Alcohol-induced violence is a devastating and pervasive phenomenon amongst the male human population. Despite this, alcohol-induced violence or aggression is understudied and the neurogenetic mechanisms underlying this behavior is relatively unknown. This lack of knowledge could be due to the lack of a good model for studying this behavior. Our lab has successfully demonstrated that male flies become more aggressive after a single low dose of alcohol. Additionally, we have also shown that female flies become more receptive to courtship after a single dose of low alcohol. The focus of Aim 1b and Aim 2b is to understand what key neurons regulate alcohol-induced aggression in males and alcohol-induced increases in receptivity to courtship in females. These experiments will be the first to functionally validate neurons that are involved in regulating these sexually dimorphic alcohol behaviors in flies, which could greatly expand the depth of knowledge about how sexually dimorphic alcohol behaviors are regulated. Training: This project will allow the applicant to further her knowledge about Drosophila genetics in order to determine the neural circuitry that regulates these sexually dimorphic alcohol behaviors. The results from this proposal will be presented at scientific conferences and journal publications and provide the necessary skills to further her career in the academic field.