Persistent One-Way Walking in a Circular Arena in Drosophila melanogaster Canton-S Strain

We describe persistent one-way walking of Drosophila melanogaster in a circular arena. Wild-type Canton-S adult flies walked in one direction, counter-clockwise or clockwise, for minutes, whereas white-eyed mutant changed directions frequently. Locomotion in the circular arena could be classified into four components: counter-clockwise walking, clockwise walking, nondirectional walking and pausing. Genetic analysis revealed that while wild-type genetic background was associated with reduced directional change and reduced numbers of one-way (including counter-clockwise and clockwise) and nondirectional walks, the white () locus promoted persistent one-way walking by increasing the maximal duration of one-way episodes. The promoting effect of was further supported by the observations that (1) duplicated to the Y chromosome, (2) four genomic copies of mini-white inserted on the autosomes, and (3) pan-neuronal overexpression of the White protein increased the maximal duration of one-way episodes, and that RNAi knockdown of in the neurons decreased the maximal duration of one-way episodes. These results suggested a pleiotropic function of in promoting persistent one-way walking in the circular arena.