@article {67715, title = {A framework for studying behavioral evolution by reconstructing ancestral repertoires.}, journal = {eLife}, volume = {10}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Sep 02}, abstract = {

Although different animal species often exhibit extensive variation in many behaviors, typically scientists examine one or a small number of behaviors in any single study. Here, we propose a new framework to simultaneously study the evolution of many behaviors. We measured the behavioral repertoire of individuals from six species of fruit flies using unsupervised techniques and identified all stereotyped movements exhibited by each species. We then fit a Generalized Linear Mixed Model to estimate the intra- and inter-species behavioral covariances, and, by using the known phylogenetic relationships among species, we estimated the (unobserved) behaviors exhibited by ancestral species. We found that much of intra-specific behavioral variation has a similar covariance structure to previously described long-time scale variation in an individual{\textquoteright}s behavior, suggesting that much of the measured variation between individuals of a single species in our assay reflects differences in the status of neural networks, rather than genetic or developmental differences between individuals. We then propose a method to identify groups of behaviors that appear to have evolved in a correlated manner, illustrating how sets of behaviors, rather than individual behaviors, likely evolved. Our approach provides a new framework for identifying co-evolving behaviors and may provide new opportunities to study the mechanistic basis of behavioral evolution.

}, issn = {2050-084X}, doi = {10.7554/eLife.61806}, author = {Hern{\'a}ndez, Dami{\'a}n G and Rivera, Catalina and Cande, Jessica and Zhou, Baohua and Stern, David and Berman, Gordon J} } @article {2495, title = {Temporal patterns of broad isoform expression during the development of neuronal lineages in Drosophila.}, journal = {Neural Development}, volume = {4}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Nov 2}, pages = {39}, abstract = {

During the development of the central nervous system (CNS) of Drosophila, neuronal stem cells, the neuroblasts (NBs), first generate a set of highly diverse neurons, the primary neurons that mature to control larval behavior, and then more homogeneous sets of neurons that show delayed maturation and are primarily used in the adult. These latter, {\textquoteright}secondary{\textquoteright} neurons show a complex pattern of expression of broad, which encodes a transcription factor usually associated with metamorphosis, where it acts as a key regulator in the transitions from larva and pupa.

}, keywords = {Animals, Biological, Drosophila, Drosophila Proteins, Genetically Modified, Interneurons, Metamorphosis, Motor Neurons, Mushroom Bodies, Neurites, Neurons, Newborn, Nonmammalian, Optic Lobe, Protein Isoforms, Thorax, Time Factors, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1749-8104}, doi = {10.1186/1749-8104-4-39}, author = {Zhou, Baohua and Williams, Darren W and Altman, Janet and Riddiford, Lynn M and Truman, James W} } @article {2513, title = {Overexpression of broad: a new insight into its role in the Drosophila prothoracic gland cells.}, journal = {The Journal of Experimental Biology}, volume = {207}, year = {2004}, month = {2004 Mar}, pages = {1151-61}, abstract = {

Insect molting is triggered by ecdysteroids, which are produced in the prothoracic glands (PG). The broad (br) gene is one of the {\textquoteright}early genes{\textquoteright} directly regulated by ecdysteroids. Ectopic expression of the BR-Z3 isoform in early second instar Drosophila larvae (L2) before the rise of the ecdysteroid titer prevented molting to the third instar, but the larvae subsequently formed L2 prepupae after prolonged feeding. When these larvae were fed on diet containing 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), they formed pharate third instar larvae. The critical weight for normal L3 pupariation of w(1118) larvae was found to be 0.8 mg and that for L2 pupariation was 0.45 mg. We also defined a threshold weight for metamorphosis of 0.3 mg, above which L2 larvae will metamorphose when provided with 20E. BR-Z3 apparently works through the PG cells of the ring gland but not the putative neurosecretory cells that drive ecdysone secretion, because ectopic expression of BR-Z3 specifically in the ring gland caused 53\% of the larvae to become permanent first instar larvae. Driving other BR isoforms in the ring gland prevented larval molting or pupariation to varying degrees. These molting defects were rescued by feeding 20E. Overexpression of each of the BR isoforms caused degeneration of the PG cells but on different time courses, indicating that BR is a signal for the degeneration of the PG cells that normally occurs during the pupal-adult transition.

}, keywords = {Animals, Body Weights and Measures, Drosophila, Drosophila Proteins, Ecdysterone, Exocrine Glands, Gene Expression Regulation, Genetically Modified, Immunohistochemistry, Larva, Molting, Protein Isoforms, Transcription Factors}, issn = {0022-0949}, author = {Zhou, Xiaofeng and Zhou, Baohua and Truman, James W and Riddiford, Lynn M} }