Aggression involves both sexually monomorphic and dimorphic actions. How the brain implements these two types of actions is poorly understood. We have identified three cell types that regulate aggression in Drosophila: one type is sexually shared, and the other two are sex specific. Shared common aggression-promoting (CAP) neurons mediate aggressive approach in both sexes, whereas functionally downstream dimorphic but homologous cell types, called male-specific aggression-promoting (MAP) neurons in males and fpC1 in females, control dimorphic attack. These symmetric circuits underlie the divergence of male and female aggressive behaviors, from their monomorphic appetitive/motivational to their dimorphic consummatory phases. The strength of the monomorphic → dimorphic functional connection is increased by social isolation in both sexes, suggesting that it may be a locus for isolation-dependent enhancement of aggression. Together, these findings reveal a circuit logic for the neural control of behaviors that include both sexually monomorphic and dimorphic actions, which may generalize to other organisms.

侵略涉及性单态和二态行为。人们对大脑如何执行这两种类型的动作知之甚少。我们已经确定了三种调节果蝇攻击性的细胞类型: 一种是性共享的，另外两种是性别特定的。共享的共同攻击促进 (CAP) 神经元介导两性的攻击方法，而功能下游的二态但同源的细胞类型，在男性中称为男性特异性攻击促进 (MAP) 神经元，在女性中称为 fpC1，控制二态攻击。这些对称回路构成了男性和女性攻击性行为差异的基础，从他们单一的食欲/动机到他们的二态完成阶段。单态→二态功能连接的强度因两性的社会隔离而增加，这表明它可能是一个依赖于隔离的攻击性增强的场所。一起，