Protocol

Measurement of Courtship Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA
National Center for Behavioral Genomics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA
Volen Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA

¹Corresponding author (aki{at}brandeis.edu)

INTRODUCTION

In Drosophila melanogaster, as in many other animals, courtship is a series of stereotypical behaviors carried out by a male responding to multimodal signals. Because different experimental conditions can engage distinct sensory modalities that affect male behavior, courtship experiments need to be carefully designed. There are several ways to manipulate sensory inputs to the test male. This protocol describes methods for designing and conducting experiments that measure the various parameters of courtship behavior.