Science, Vol.277, No.5327, 834-836, 1997
Natural Behavior Polymorphism Due to a cGMP-Dependent Protein-Kinase of Drosophila
Naturally occuring polymorphisms in behavior are difficult to map genetically and thus are refractory to molecular characterization. An exception is the foraging gene (for), a gene that has two naturally occurring variants in Drosophila melanogaster food-search behavior : rover and sitter. Molecular mapping placed for mutations in the dg2 gene, which encodes a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG). Revers had higher PKG activity than sitters, and transgenic sitters expressing a dg2 complementary DNA from rover showed transformation of behavior to rover. Thus, PKG levels affected food-search behavior, and natural variation in PKG activity accounted for a behavioral polymorphism.
Keywords:LONG-TERM-MEMORY;FORAGING STRATEGIES;GENE-EXPRESSION;LEARNING MUTANT;MELANOGASTER;BINDING;MICE;ELEMENTS;MUTATION;CYCLASE