Abstract
Behavior is mediated by an animal’s ability to receive sensory information, to process such information and then integrate those signals into the appropriate output response. Courtship behavior is an innate and stereotypical behavior in Drosophila melanogaster and is thus an excellent model for studying behavior. The sex-determination pathway establishes the signals and neuronal architecture required for proper courtshipbehaviorinbothmalesandfemales.fruitless,dissatisfaction,anddoublesexare transcription factors in the sex-de-termination pathway that regulate courtship behavior through downstream effectors; however, only a few targets have been identified. fruitless is the best behaviorally characterized sex-determination gene, and mutations in this locus produce a spectrum of behavioral phenotypes. For example, courtship as a whole, or its individual steps can be disrupted or males may court either sex. Here we propose a new way of finding these sex-determination targets as well as other courtship-responsive genes. We used Affymetrix Drosophila Genome 2.0 microarrays to assay transcript expression profiles in males that courted females compared to unexposed males. As a result of courtship, a small number of genes, including known sex-determination targets, showed significant changes in transcript levels.