A Genetic Window into Decision-making

The process of decision-making directs our actions in all aspects of our life. However, we know surprisingly little about the neural and cellular mechanisms of decision-making. Current behavioral models of decision-making are based on vertebrate systems where the complexity of the brain and the effort required to generate and analyze large numbers of genetic variants makes it extremely difficult to resolve how different neural populations interact during decision formation. The model system Drosophila, with its genetic toolkit and sophisticated behavioral repertoire, provides an attractive alternative to address this problem. To study decision-making in flies, we have started looking at the time it takes for a fly to make a decision. Unlike reflex actions, decisions take time because decision-makers need to integrate evidence, in favor of or against each alternative before committing to a choice.In this talk, I will describe a decision process in Drosophila that involves evidence accumulation and requires the function ofFoxP,a member of a gene family implicated in human cognition. I will also discuss about how genes like FoxP open the possibility that superficially dissimilar processes could be linked by shared circuit motifs that are formed or maintained under the influence of ancestral genes.