Benjamin P. Smith

Generalization of Courtship Learning in Drosophila Is Mediated by cis-Vaccenyl Acetate

Reproductive behavior in Drosophila has both stereotyped and plastic components that are driven by age- and sex-specific chemical cues. Males who unsuccessfully court virgin females subsequently avoid females that are of the same age as the trainer. In contrast, males trained with mature mated females associate volatile appetitive and aversive pheromonal cues and learn to suppress courtship of all females. Here we show that the volatile aversive pheromone that leads to generalized learning with mated females is (Z)-11-octadecenyl acetate (cis-vaccenyl acetate, cVA). cVA is a major component of the male cuticular hydrocarbon profile, but it is not found on virgin females. During copulation, cVA is transferred to the female in ejaculate along with sperm and peptides that decrease her sexual receptivity. When males sense cVA (either synthetic or from mated female or male extracts) in the context of female pheromone, they develop a generalized suppression of courtship. The effects of cVA on initial courtship of virgin females can be blocked by expression of tetanus toxin in Or65a, but not Or67d neurons, demonstrating that the aversive effects of this pheromone are mediated by a specific class of olfactory neuron. These findings suggest that transfer of cVA to females during mating may be part of the males strategy to suppress reproduction by competing males.

Social experience modifies pheromone expression and mating behavior in male Drosophila melanogaster

Summary Background The social life of animals depends on communication between individuals. Recent studies in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrate that various behaviors are influenced by social interactions. For example, courtship is a social interaction mediated by pheromonal signaling that occurs more frequently during certain times of the day than others. In adult flies, sex pheromones are synthesized in cells called oenocytes and displayed on the surface of the cuticle. Although the role of Drosophila pheromones in sexual behavior is well established, little is known about the timing of these signals or how their regulation is influenced by the presence of other flies. Results We report that oenocytes contain functional circadian clocks that appear to regulate the synthesis of pheromones by controlling the transcription of desaturase1 ( desat1 ), a gene required for production of male cuticular sex pheromones. Moreover, levels of these pheromones vary throughout the day in a pattern that depends on the clock genes and most likely also depends on the circadian control of desat1 in the oenocytes. To assess group dynamics, we manipulated the genotypic composition of social groups (single versus mixed genotypes). This manipulation significantly affects clock gene transcription both in the head and oenocytes, and it also affects the pattern of pheromonal accumulation on the cuticle. Remarkably, we found that flies in mixed social groups mate more frequently than do their counterparts in uniform groups. Conclusions These results demonstrate that social context exerts a regulatory influence on the expression of chemical signals, while modulating sexual behavior in the fruit fly.BACKGROUND The social life of animals depends on communication between individuals. Recent studies in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrate that various behaviors are influenced by social interactions. For example, courtship is a social interaction mediated by pheromonal signaling that occurs more frequently during certain times of the day than others. In adult flies, sex pheromones are synthesized in cells called oenocytes and displayed on the surface of the cuticle. Although the role of Drosophila pheromones in sexual behavior is well established, little is known about the timing of these signals or how their regulation is influenced by the presence of other flies. RESULTS We report that oenocytes contain functional circadian clocks that appear to regulate the synthesis of pheromones by controlling the transcription of desaturase1 (desat1), a gene required for production of male cuticular sex pheromones. Moreover, levels of these pheromones vary throughout the day in a pattern that depends on the clock genes and most likely also depends on the circadian control of desat1 in the oenocytes. To assess group dynamics, we manipulated the genotypic composition of social groups (single versus mixed genotypes). This manipulation significantly affects clock gene transcription both in the head and oenocytes, and it also affects the pattern of pheromonal accumulation on the cuticle. Remarkably, we found that flies in mixed social groups mate more frequently than do their counterparts in uniform groups. CONCLUSIONS These results demonstrate that social context exerts a regulatory influence on the expression of chemical signals, while modulating sexual behavior in the fruit fly.

Staircase Codes: FEC for 100 Gb/s OTN

Staircase codes, a new class of forward-error-correction (FEC) codes suitable for high-speed optical communications, are introduced. An ITU-T G.709-compatible staircase code with rate R = 239/255 is proposed, and field-programmable-gate-array-based simulation results are presented, exhibiting a net coding gain of 9.41 dB at an output error rate of 10-15, an improvement of 0.42 dB relative to the best code from the ITU-T G.975.1 recommendation. An error floor analysis technique is presented, and the proposed code is shown to have an error floor at 4.0 × 10-21.

Future Prospects for FEC in Fiber-Optic Communications

This paper reviews the application of forward error correction (FEC) techniques to long-haul fiber-optic communication systems. A brief tutorial on error-correcting codes and a discussion of their fundamental limits (on the additive white Gaussian noise channel and on a nonlinear fiber-optic transmission channel) is provided. To illustrate the potential for applying advanced FEC techniques that take channel nonlinearities into account, a novel faster than Nyquist style binary signaling scheme, providing significant rate improvements over a reference benchmark system, is described. To achieve higher spectral efficiencies, the judicious combination of higher order modulation schemes with FEC is discussed. Finally, several potential directions for further research in the application of advanced FEC systems to nonlinear fiber-optic channels are given.

Design of irregular LDPC codes with optimized performance-complexity tradeoff

The optimal performance-complexity tradeoff for error-correcting codes at rates strictly below the Shannon limit is a central question in coding theory. This paper proposes a numerical approach for the minimization of decoding complexity for long-block-length irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. The proposed design methodology is applicable to any binary-input memoryless symmetric channel and any iterative message-passing decoding algorithm with a parallel-update schedule. A key feature of the proposed optimization method is a new complexity measure that incorporates both the number of operations required to carry out a single decoding iteration and the number of iterations required for convergence. This paper shows that the proposed complexity measure can be accurately estimated from a density-evolution and extrinsic-information transfer chart analysis of the code. A sufficient condition is presented for convexity of the complexity measure in the variable edge-degree distribution; when it is not satisfied, numerical experiments nevertheless suggest that the local minimum is unique. The results presented herein show that when the decoding complexity is constrained, the complexity-optimized codes significantly outperform threshold-optimized codes at long block lengths, within the ensemble of irregular codes.

A Pragmatic Coded Modulation Scheme for High-Spectral-Efficiency Fiber-Optic Communications

A pragmatic coded modulation system is presented that incorporates signal shaping and exploits the excellent performance and efficient high-speed decoding architecture of staircase codes. Reliable communication within 0.62 bits/s/Hz of the estimated capacity (per polarization) of a system with L=2000 km is provided by the proposed system, with an error floor below 10-20. Also, it is shown that digital backpropagation increases the achievable spectral efficiencies-relative to linear equalization-by 0.55 to 0.75 bits/s/Hz per polarization.

Complexity-optimized low-density parity-check codes for gallager decoding algorithm B

The complexity-rate tradeoff for error-correcting codes below the Shannon limit is a central question in coding theory. This paper makes progress in this area by presenting a joint numerical optimization of rate and decoding complexity for low-density parity-check codes. The focus of this paper is on the binary symmetric channel and on a class of decoding algorithms for which an exact extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart analysis is possible. This class of decoding algorithms includes the Gallager decoding algorithm B. The main feature of the optimization method is a complexity measure based on the EXIT chart that accurately estimates the number of iterations required for the decoding algorithm to reach a target error rate. Under a fixed check-degree distribution, it is shown that the proposed complexity measure is a convex function of the variable-degree distribution in a region of interest. This allows us to numerically characterize the complexity-rate tradeoff. We show that for the Gallager B decoding algorithm on binary symmetric channels, the optimization procedure can produce complexity savings of 30-40% as compared to the conventional code design method

Low-Density Parity-Check Codes for Discretized Min-Sum Decoding

The performance of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes transmitted over a memoryless binary-input continuous output additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and decoded with quantized min-sum decoding is strongly influenced by the decoders quantization scheme. This paper presents an efficient algorithm that determines the best uniform scalar quantizer for a particular code. To maximize performance, it is necessary to determine degree distributions that best match the characteristics of the quantized min-sum decoder. Toward this end, an iterative optimization framework that jointly optimizes the degree distributions and the quantizer is presented

Operating points for low-density parity-check codes in on-off keyed fiber-optic transmission systems

We consider the rate/distance tradeoff for LDPC-coded OOK systems under soft-decision iterative decoding. Below 6000 km, EXIT-chart optimized irregular LDPC codes outperform systems that use a nonlinearity-reducing constrained inner code.