Courtship, aggression and avoidance: Pheromones, receptors and neurons for social behaviors in Drosophila

Chemical communication between individual Drosophila is extremely important for social behaviors required for survival and reproduction, such as con-specific recognition, courtship, aggression and avoidance of odor from "stressed" flies. Characterization of the receptors and neural circuits that detect pheromone cues and an understanding of how these circuits are modulated by the social interactions are fundamental questions about the neurobiology of social behaviors. Recent years have seen important advances in the identification of chemoreceptors and sensory neurons that are involved in sensing pheromones. Here we present a brief review of the current understanding of the peripheral chemosensory systems that are involved in social behaviors.