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Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Measuring and Altering Mating Drive in Male Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: February 15, 2017
Differential expression of quick-to-court gene isoforms in Drosophila male and female
Natalia E Gogoleva1, Roman O Cherezov2, Yulia V Lyupina2
1Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, 420111 Kazan, Russia; Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Kazan Science Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia.
Abstract:
The quick-to-court (qtc) gene is expressed in both males and females but affects only the mating behavior of males, probably due to the different composition of isoforms between the sexes. We tested this hypothesis and examined the sex-specific expression of qtc transcripts in the tissues of male and female Oregon-R flies. It was found that some qtc transcripts, such as qtc-RM and qtc-RN, are testis-specific, while others like qtc-RH are found in ovaries but absent in testes. No sex-specific transcripts were identified in the brain, suggesting further investigation into specific brain structures may be needed. There is likely a complex regulation of qtc gene expression, which is potentially influenced by various factors in different tissues.
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