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The pheromone darcin drives a circuit for innate and reinforced behaviours
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Journal Article
The pheromone darcin drives a circuit for innate and reinforced behaviours
2020
Overview
Organisms have evolved diverse behavioural strategies that enhance the likelihood of encountering and assessing mates
1
. Many species use pheromones to communicate information about the location, sexual and social status of potential partners
2
. In mice, the major urinary protein darcin—which is present in the urine of males—provides a component of a scent mark that elicits approach by females and drives learning
3
,
4
. Here we show that darcin elicits a complex and variable behavioural repertoire that consists of attraction, ultrasonic vocalization and urinary scent marking, and also serves as a reinforcer in learning paradigms. We identify a genetically determined circuit—extending from the accessory olfactory bulb to the posterior medial amygdala—that is necessary for all behavioural responses to darcin. Moreover, optical activation of darcin-responsive neurons in the medial amygdala induces both the innate and the conditioned behaviours elicited by the pheromone. These neurons define a topographically segregated population that expresses neuronal nitric oxide synthase. We suggest that this darcin-activated neural circuit integrates pheromonal information with internal state to elicit both variable innate behaviours and reinforced behaviours that may promote mate encounters and mate selection.
A neural circuit activated by the male pheromone, darcin, mediates a complex and variable array of innate and reinforced behaviours that may promote mate encounters and mate selection.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
