• H. Amin, S.S. Nolte, B. Swain and A.C. von Philipsborn (2023); GABAergic signaling shapes multiple aspects of Drosophila courtship motor behavior. iScience 26, 108069, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108069
• N. Mermet-Joret, A. Moreno, A. Zbela, B.E. Ellendersen, N. Krauth, A. von Philipsborn, J. Piriz, J.Y. Lin, S. Nabavi (2023); Dual-color optical activation and suppression of neurons with high temporal precision. doi: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.90327.1

• A.C. von Philipsborn, G. Shohat-Ophir and C. Rezaval (2023); Topic introduction: Measurement of Drosophila reproductive behaviors; Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.top107866

• A.C. von Philipsborn, G. Shohat-Ophir and C. Rezaval (2023); Protocol Single-Pair Courtship and Competition Assays in Drosophila. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot108105

• A.C. von Philipsborn, G. Shohat-Ophir and C. Rezaval (2023); Protocol: Courtship Conditioning/Suppression Assays in Drosophila. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot108106

• A.C. von Philipsborn, G. Shohat-Ophir and C. Rezaval (2023); Protocol: Probing Acoustic Communication during Fly Reproductive Behaviors. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot108107

• A.C. von Philipsborn, G. Shohat-Ophir and C. Rezaval (2023); Protocol: Female Fly Postmating Behaviors. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols, doi:10.1101/pdb.prot108108

• B. Swain and A.C. von Philipsborn (2021); Sound production in Drosophila melanogaster: Behaviour and neurobiology; Book chapter in: Sound Communication in Insects. Advances in Insect Physiology, 61, 141-187. DOI: 10.1016/bs.aiip.2021.08.001

• A.C. von Philipsborn (2020); Neuroscience: The female art of saying no. (Dispatch) Current Biology, 30 (19): R1080-R1083. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.023
  
• P. Kerwin and A.C. von Philipsborn (2020); Copulation Song in Drosophila: Do Females Sing to Change Male Ejaculate Allocation and Incite Postcopulatory Mate Choice? BioEssays, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/bies.202000109
  
• P. Kerwin, J. Yuan and A.C. von Philipsborn (2020); Female copulation song is modulated by seminal fluid. Nature Communications, 11, 1430. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15260-6
• S.E. Seidenbecher, J.I. Sanders, A.C. von Philipsborn, D. Kvitsiani (2020); Reward foraging task and model-based analysis reveal how fruit flies learn value of available options. PLOS ONE, 15 (10): e0239616. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239616
  
• A. O’Sullivan, T. Lindsay, A. Prudnikova, B. Erdi, M. Dickinson, and A.C. von Philipsborn (2018); Multifunctional Wing Motor Control of Song and Flight. Current Biology, 28 (17): 2705-2717. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.038
• A.C. von Philipsborn; Neurobiology (2018); Book chapter in: Insect Behaviour, from Mechanisms to Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences. Editors: Cordobar-Aguilar, Gonzalez-Tokman and Gonzalez-Santoyo, Oxford University Press 2018. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198797500.003.0003
• B.E. Ellendersen and A.C. von Philipsborn (2017); Neuronal modulation of D. melanogaster sexual behaviour. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 24:21-28. DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2017.08.005
• S. Heinze and A.C. von Philipsborn (2017); Editorial: Recent advances in insect neuroethology: from sensory processing to circuits controlling internal states. Current Opinion in Insect Science, 24. DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2017.11.006
• F. Fielderling, M. Weschenfelder, M. Fritz, A. von Philipsborn, M. Bastmeyer and F. Weth (2017); Ephrin-A/EphA specific co-adaptation as a novel mechanism in topographic axon guidance. eLIFE, 6:e25533. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.25533
• M.N. Verzijden, J.K. Abbott, A.C. von Philipsborn and V. Loeschcke (2015); Male Drosophila melanogaster learn to prefer an arbitrary trait associated with female mating status. Current Zoology, 61 (6): 1036–1042. DOI: 10.1093/czoolo/61.6.1036
• A.C. von Philipsborn, S. Jörchel, L. Tirian, E. Demir, T. Morita, D. L. Stern and B. J. Dickson (2014); Cellular and Behavioral Functions of fruitless Isoforms in Drosophila Courtship. Current Biology, 24 (3): 242-251. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.12.015

Anne’s papers before establishment of the lab:

• A.C. von Philipsborn, T. Liu, J.Y. Yu, C. Masser, S.S. Bidaye and B.J. Dickson (2011); Neuronal control of Drosophila courtship song. Neuron, 69(3): 509-522. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.06.038
• E. Seiradake, A.C. von Philipsborn, M. Henry, M. Fritz, H. Lortat-Jacob, M. Jamin, W. Hemrika, M. Bastmeyer, S. Cusak and A.A. McCarthy (2009); Structure and functional relevance of the Slit2 homodimerization domain. EMBO reports, 10(7): 736-741. DOI: 10.1038/embor.2009.95
  
• S. Lang1, A.C. von Philipsborn1, A. Bernard, F. Bonhoeffer and M. Bastmeyer (2008); Growth cone response to ephrin gradients produced by microfluidic networks. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2008, 390(3): 809-816. (1shared first authorship) DOI: 10.1007/s00216-007-1363-3
  
• A.C. von Philipsborn, S. Lang, Z. Jiang, F. Bonhoeffer and M. Bastmeyer (2007); Substrate-bound protein gradients for cell culture fabricated by microfluidic networks and microcontact printing. Science STKE, 414:pI6. DOI: 10.1126/stke.4142007pl6
  
• A. von Philipsborn and M. Bastmeyer (2007); Mechanisms of Gradient Detection: A Comparison of Axon Pathfinding with Eukaryotic Cell Migration. International Review of Cytology, 263:1-62. DOI: 10.1016/S0074-7696(07)63001-0
  
• A.C. von Philipsborn, S. Lang, J. Loeschinger, A. Bernard, C. David, D. Lehnert, M. Bastmeyer and F. Bonhoeffer (2006); Microcontact printing of axon guidance molecules for generation of graded patterns. Nature Protocols, 1:1322-8. DOI: 10.1038/nprot.2006.251
  
• A.C. von Philipsborn, S. Lang, J. Loeschinger, A. Bernard, C. David, D. Lehnert, M. Bastmeyer and F. Bonhoeffer (2006); Growth cone navigation in substrate-bound ephrin gradients. Development, 133:2487-95. DOI: 10.1242/dev.02412
  
• A.C. von Philipsborn, A. Ferrer-Vaquer, E. Rivera-Milla, C.A.O. Stuermer, E. Malaga-Trillo (2005); Restricted expression of reggie genes and proteins during early zebrafish development. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 482:257-72. DOI: 10.1002/cne.20423

	Anne C. von Philipsborn Professor I did a PhD in Germany and a postdoc at the IMP in Vienna, Austria. In 2014, I joined DANDRITE, the Danish Institute of Translational Neuroscience, at Aarhus University and established the lab. In February 2022, we moved to the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where I am currently a full professor at the Faculty of Science and Medicine.
	Lina Verbakel Postdoc
	Martin Bernet PhD Student
	Laurence Clément Laboratory Technician
	Valérie Salicio Laboratory Technician
	Vladimir Trajanovikj PhD Student
	Valeria Panariello PhD Student
	Sabina Avosani Postdoc

Alumni

Malou Niada, Bachelor Student

Bijayalaxmi Swain, PhD student (now Aarhus University)

Peter Kerwin, PhD student

Angelos Roupas, Erasmus Plus Student (now Cell Therapy Technician, Kite Pharma)

Jens Lindengren Andersen, Bachelor Student

Kawtar Cherkaoui, Research Intern (now Aarhus University)

Sean Hansen, Student Help (now PhD student Aarhus University)

Per Rosing Mogensen, IT Employee

Anna Prudnikova, Laboratory Technician (now Biomedicine, Aarhus University)

Julia Döring, Erasmus Plus Student

Hanna Grzesik, Erasmus Plus Student

Martyna Bączek, Erasmus Plus Student

Kawtar Cherkaoui, Erasmus Student

Baptiste Bertagne, Erasmus Student

Stella Nolte, Postdoc (now Biomedicine, Aarhus University)

Bárður Eyjólfsson Ellendersen, PhD Student (now Viminco, Denmark)

Angela O’Sullivan, PhD Student (now Eli Lilly, Cork, Ireland)

Francesca Barbieri, Erasmus Student

Jiasheng Yuan, Research Assistant

Volker Berendes, Postdoc (now University Bielefeld, Germany)

Hoger Amin, Master Student (now University of Sheffield, UK)

Begoña López Arias, Postdoc

Yanan Zhang, Erasmus Student

Andreas Brydenfelt Wulff, Intern (now University of Maryland, Baltimore, US)

Mateusz Kostecki, summer Intern (now Nencki Institute, Warsaw, Poland)

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2015

Background: Drosophila reproductive behaviour

When a Drosophila male meets a female, he typically displays courtship. He orients towards his mate, follows her, sings by vibrating his wing and attempts copulation. Courtship wing song is a highly structured, species-specific acoustic signal. It consists of alternating pulse and sine song. Song stimulates the receptivity of a virgin female and drives her to accept males for copulation. Although largely innate, sexual behaviour is not a rigid reflex, but is modulated by multiple external and internal factors, such as physiological state, behavioural context and social experience (for review, see Ellendersen and von Philipsborn 2017, Curr Opin Insect Sci 24).

Motor patterning and multifunctionality of motor systems

Multifunctionality of neuromuscular systems is widespread. Most motor neurons and muscles are used for different behaviours, subserving or participating in different pattern generating networks. This poses a challenge to underlying neuronal control. Mechanisms of neuronal control of multifunctional motor systems are of long standing interest for circuit neuroscience. They provide insight in the implementation of behavioural choice, selection and state dependent circuit reconfiguration.

We chose the wing motor control in Drosophila as an attractive model system for multifunctionality. Flight control and sexual acoustic signaling, i.e. generation of the male fly’s courtship song, both rely on precisely patterned wing movements. They employ a small set of wing muscles and corresponding motor neurons. We studied the neuronal control mechanisms of this multifunctional motor system by live imaging of muscle ensemble activity patterns during song and flight and establish the role of a comprehensive set of wing muscle motor neurons by functional manipulations. Song and flight rely on distinct configurations of neuromuscular activity, with most, but not all flight muscles and their corresponding motor neurons contributing to song and shaping its acoustic parameters. The two behaviours are exclusive, and the neuronal command for flight overrides the command for song. The neuromodulator octopamine is a candidate for selectively stabilizing flight, but not song motor patterns (O’Sullivan et al. 2018, Current Biology 28)

In contrast to multifunctional motor neurons, premotor interneurons seem to be dedicated to either song or flight control. A few types of interneurons expressing the sex-determination factors Fruitless (Fru) or Doublesex (Dsx) are reported to affect song structure (von Philipsborn et al. 2011, Neuron 69; Shirangi et al. 2016, Dev Cell 37), but little is known about how they interconnect and control the motor neurons.

By integrating data from genetic and neuronal screens we currently investigate how the song pattern is generated at the level of interneurons.

Discovery and characterization of Drosophila female copulation song

We discovered that female Drosophila sing by wing vibration in copula. This copulation song is distinct from male courtship song and requires neurons expressing the female sex determination factor DoublesexF. Copulation song depends on transfer of seminal fluid components of the male accessory gland. Playback of female copulation song to a mating couple increases the time the female takes to remate with subsequent males and thereby increases the reproductive success of the first male. This suggests that auditory cues from the female modulate male seminal fluid transfer (Kerwin et al. 2020, Nature Communications).

We hypothesize that female copulation song serves as a signal in postcopulatory mate choice, giving the female the opportunity to influence the composition and postmating effect of ejaculate (Kerwin and von Philipsborn 2020, BioEssays).

Our findings reveal an unexpected fine-tuning of reproductive decisions during a multimodal copulatory dialog. The discovery of a female-specific acoustic behavior sheds new light on Drosophila mating, sexual dimorphisms of neuronal circuits and the impact of seminal fluid molecules on nervous system and behavior. Further, our work sheds light on new mechanisms of sperm competition and postcopulatory (cryptic) female mate choice- phenomena that are widespread in most animal species, but very little studied from the perspective of underlying neuronal circuits.

The Philipsborn group focuses their research on how the nervous system generates and controls behaviour, using the fruitfly Drosophila as a model organism. Future work will include using Drosophila as a model system for understanding molecular and cellular aspects of neurodegenerative diseases.