The learning paradigm we have chosen to study is courtship conditioning in Drosophila. This is a naturally occurring form of learning in which males learn to choose appropriate females as courtship objects. Naïve Drosophila males court both mated and virgin females, yet only virgins will be receptive to their mating attempts. Mated females actively reject courting males. Having experienced such rejection, a male is subsequently less inclined to court other mated females, but will still court virgin females almost as vigorously as socially naïve males. This type of learning is thought to be mediated by pheromones. However, both pheromonal profile and mating status of females vary from place to place and time to time. Therefore, to maximize their reproductive success, Drosophila males should tune their mating strategy to local environments. As with many other learning paradigms, this behavioral modification can be of either short or long duration, depending on the learning regimen (Fig. 1). Our goal is to understand the molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms that underlie this robust form of memory.
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Keleman Lab
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2013 - 2022
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