Heterozygous males initiate a robust heterosexual courtship of mature wild-type CantonS females as early as 11 hours old (wild-type CantonS males start courting mature females at 17 hours old). The mutant males also mate earlier than control males: when 21 hours old, 50% of mutant heterozygous males mate during the first 10 minutes (wild-type CantonS males initiate copulation only when 28 hours old).
The median lifespan for prosV26 animals (the age after egg laying at which 50% of homozygotes have died) is 13.19 days at 25oC.
Homozygous third instar larvae show reduced locomotor activity compared to controls.
Homozygous second instar larvae show normal or nearly normal responses to 0.1M sucrose and to 0.3M NaCl in a taste response assay.
The courtship index of heterozygous males towards decapitated Canton-S males is significantly higher than that of wild-type males towards decapitated Canton-S males. The courtship index of heterozygous males towards decapitated Canton-S males is significantly lower than that of heterozygous prosV1 males towards decapitated Canton-S males. Homozygous flies appear selectively disadvantaged in the presence of prosV26/TM3 heterozygotes; after more than 50 generations in a stock in which prosV26 is maintained over TM3, the frequency of homozygous flies stabilised at around 30-35%.
