Gene loss makes gay male flies homosexual

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have recently discovered that male fruit flies lack genes that regulate the body's ability to receive a particular odor that will defect abilities in the 'emotional' problem.

Because they lack the ability to read important chemical instructions, male flies lacking in genes will try to "spoil" other males and also try out females that have just mated. The signals they miss are pheromones secreted from mating females and male fruit flies. The findings will be published online in Nature Neuroscience.

The researchers found that the signal from the pheromone receptor was very helpful for fruit flies. The body connects directly to the high-level command processing center in the fly brain, thus controlling their activities. This connection has surprised scientists. They studied genes related to the fruit fly's other 'emotional life'.

Dr. Hubert Amrein of Duke University's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics said: 'This is contrary to the belief established for previous taste and olfactory systems. Our findings suggest that signals from the external environment do not necessarily need to pass through the processing areas in the sensory system before being connected to the higher brain structure. '

Male flies lacking the Gr32a gene, the gene that regulates taste receptors, have normal mating activity for unfertilized females. But in competition with normal male fruit flies (wild type), they need to perform four times better. In fact, fruit flies lacking the Gr32a gene also flirt with competing males outside females.

Fruit fly (Photo: Popsci)

To learn more about the role of this gene, researchers used flies that lost their heads in both sexes because they could not create any feedback activity that could spoil the main calculations. corpses about the sex appeal of male flies studied. Both types of males flirt with females who lose their heads at the same level. However, the effort with male head loss only increased in males lacking the Gr32a gene, they even tried to mate with males - an activity not seen in wild males.

The scientists also found that males lacking the Gr32a gene flirt with females with mating. However, wild-type males are not usually interested in females mated by mating females who have received male pheromones during the first mating process.

Unfortunate males who lack the Gr32a gene try to mate with females that have not previously mated even when they are coated with male pheromon - this is the activity that the rabid male usually avoids.

Co-author Tetsuya Miyamoto also belongs to the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, saying: 'The Gr32a gene is very strong to help fruit flies distinguish gender as well as determine their mating status. Males 'pheromones are so effective that males with Gr32a mutants also admit males with nearly the same intensity as when they flirt with females.'

Gr32a gene is not available in humans. Amrein said: 'Basically, the development of pheromon in gender activities in people is not very clear. We know that males and females have a preference for certain senses. The mouse has an olfactory organ, people still retain the vestiges of this organ in the nose but it does not function to humans. So I think it is difficult to establish any direct link between detection for genes in fruit flies and what happens in humans. '