Genes, Circuits and Behaviour 

Our laboratory uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to study the genetic, developmental, and neural mechanisms that underlie sex-specific behaviours in higher animals. In particular, the elaborate courtship ritual performed by the male fly has provided remarkable insights into how the neural circuitry underlying sexual behaviour, which is largely innate in flies, is built into the nervous system during development, and how this circuitry functions in the adult.  Innate behaviours refer to the actions of an animal that manifest themselves without prior experience, and thus by implication are genetically inherited. Yet how does gene expression control the development and function of the nervous system so that a gene's action influences some discernible aspect of behaviour? We are studying how the Drosophila transcription factor genes fruitless and doublesex act within the complex and highly organized network of transcription factors to orchestrate the developmental events necessary for sex-specific behaviours and physiology, and the broader lessons this can teach us about the mechanisms underlying the development of sex-specific neural circuitry.