Data from: Aggressive behaviours, food deprivation and the foraging gene

We examined a pleiotropic function of the foraging (for) gene with its rover and sitter allelic variants in fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. We measured for's effect on adult male aggressive behaviours and whether this effect was shaped by for's known role in food-related traits. Rover exhibited higher levels of offensive behaviour than sitters and s2, a sitter-like mutant on rover genetic background.

With a Markov chain model, we estimated the rate of aggression escalation, and found that the rover pattern of aggressive escalation more rapidly intensified fights. Subsequent analysis revealed that this was not caused by for's effect on food-related traits, suggesting that for might directly regulate aggressive behaviours. Food deprivation did not elevate aggression, but reduced intermediate-level aggressive behaviours.

Aggression and other foraging-related behaviour might comprise a synergistic trait module underlaid by this pleiotropic gene. Usage notes 24hours_fooddep_experiment_freq Behavior frequency of each treatment and strain. 24hours_fooddep_weight Dry weight of flies in each treatment and strain Behavior_transition_networks Raw behavior transition matrices used to calculate escalation rate from approach to head-to-head-interaction.