AUTHOR=Hansen Celia Napier , Özkaya Özge , Roe Helen , Kyriacou Charalambos P. , Giongo Lara , Rosato Ezio 

TITLE=Locomotor Behaviour and Clock Neurons Organisation in the Agricultural Pest Drosophila suzukii

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00941

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2019.00941

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Drosophila suzukii</italic> (Matsumara) also called Spotted Wing <italic>Drosophila</italic> (SWD), is an invasive pest species originally from Asia that has now spread widely across Europe and North America. The majority of drosophilids including the best known <italic>Drosophila melanogaster</italic> only breed on decaying fruits. On the contrary, the presence of a strong serrated ovipositor and behavioural and metabolic adaptations allow <italic>D. suzukii</italic> to lay eggs inside healthy, ripening fruits that are still on the plant. Here we present an analysis of the rhythmic locomotor activity behaviour of <italic>D. suzukii</italic> under several laboratory settings. Moreover, we identify the canonical clock neurons in this species by reporting the expression pattern of the major clock proteins in the brain. Interestingly, a fundamentally similar organisation of the clock neurons network between <italic>D. melanogaster</italic> and <italic>D. suzukii</italic> does not correspond to similar characteristics in rhythmic locomotor activity behaviour.</p>