Social isolation upregulates takeout expression in female Drosophila melanogaster to promote sucrose preference

However, the extent to which social isolation alters behaviors via sex-specific brain changes is unclear. Here, we use Drosophila melanogaster to explore sex differences in isolation-induced behavioral and transcriptomic changes.

Male and female adult flies were isolated for seven days, and multiple behavioral sex-based differences were identified through tests of activity, motivation, aggression, and sugar preference. RNA-seq analysis also identified several candidate genes that were associated with sex differences in isolation-induced behavioral changes. Takeout (to) expression and sucrose selection were upregulated exclusively in females following social isolation.