Gender-bending boy fruit flies fight like girls

[Logan13]

Gender-bending boy fruit flies fight like girls
11/19/06
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a study that sheds light on the biology of aggression, scientists swapped genes in gender-bending fruit flies to make boys fight like girls and girls fight like boys.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna focused on a gene in fruit flies dubbed "fruitless," an important player in behavioral differences between the sexes of these insects.

The gene is known for its role in male courtship, but also controls another sex-specific behavior -- how flies fight, according to the research appearing on Sunday in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

When they fight, female fruit flies rely on maneuvers like shoving and head butts to an opponent's body. Males use tactics that include lunging, boxing and rearing up on their back legs and snapping down their forelegs to flatten an adversary.

The researchers swapped the male and female versions of the gene in fruit flies and observed the consequences. Males with the feminine gene used female fighting tactics, while the females with the masculine gene fought like the boys.

People have a lot to learn about the biological basis of aggression, said Harvard neurobiologist Edward Kravitz, one of the study's authors.

"It goes without saying aggression, as well as violence, in society is a serious problem. It has to have biological roots. And the biological roots will have genetic components and experiential components," Kravitz said in an interview.

It is important to learn about such complex behaviors in a simple organism, and then apply this knowledge to higher and higher forms while ultimately trying to gain insight into human behavior, Kravitz said.
People do not have an exact equivalent to the "fruitless" gene, Kravitz added, but probably have other human genes serving similar functions.

STEEL-CAGE MATCH

Kravitz said his team, pondering how to instigate fruit fly fights, settled on food and mating -- or, in this case, necrophilia.

They set up the insect world's equivalent to a steel-cage match -- a chamber with glass walls and a lid with air holes, a dish of fly food and a mate -- and sent in the combatants. But when they used a live female fly as a lure for the males, she often would just fly off.

"My student discovered when he transferred the female to the dish and accidentally crushed her head that the males didn't care whether she had a head or not. That's a true story of what led us to cutting the heads of the females off in subsequent studies," Kravitz said.

"They'll court the dead, headless female fly, and try to copulate with her sometimes."

In a related study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week, Kravitz and colleagues wrote that flies developed "winner" or "loser" mentalities in these fights, which amounted to a series of nonlethal skirmishes.

Kravitz acknowledged some of the nutty aspects of the experiments.

"When you're trying to explain this to your children -- 'Dad, what did you do today?' 'Well, I had these two fruit flies, son, and I was trying to figure out how to get them to fight.' Just think of that."

[Kärnfysikern]

This open up one question.

If we can isolate a gene sequence that is responsible for agression in humans. Should we inactivate it?

On one hand it would do alot to get rid of useless violence, fanatism ect. On the other it would remove a big part of what makes us human, atleast what makes males into real manly men, our primitive animal traits.

[singern]

This open up one question.

If we can isolate a gene sequence that is responsible for agression in humans. Should we inactivate it?

On one hand it would do alot to get rid of useless violence, fanatism ect. On the other it would remove a big part of what makes us human, atleast what makes males into real manly men, our primitive animal traits.

That sounds like a bad Sci-Fi movie. The human race must evolve, and mature on its own past the current tribal mentality if we are to survive.

[Phreak101]

This open up one question.

If we can isolate a gene sequence that is responsible for agression in humans. Should we inactivate it?

On one hand it would do alot to get rid of useless violence, fanatism ect. On the other it would remove a big part of what makes us human, atleast what makes males into real manly men, our primitive animal traits.

Absolutely not! Aggression is directly ties to domination, which spurs competition. Without competition, there is no incentive for innovation. To me deactivating one of our most primal traits that is fundemental to everything in our life in some form or another is just asking for trouble.

Besides, who's gonna whoop the aliens asses when they invade us and we're all a bunch of limp wristed pansies? We sure can't bitch slap them to death...

[Kärnfysikern]

That sounds like a bad Sci-Fi movie. The human race must evolve, and mature on its own past the current tribal mentality if we are to survive.

what if scenario.

Im sure we will be able to design away some traits within a hundrad years of we want to. Question is, what do we give up and what do we gain by doing so.


Im all for designer humans. Evolution is to ****ing slow. If we can design away flaws like stupidity and inflated agression I dont se why not.

We wont evolve away from tribal mentality on our own, scratch the surface of any european or american and there is a savage there given the right circumstances. That will never change by its own.

[Kärnfysikern]

Absolutely not! Aggression is directly ties to domination, which spurs competition. Without competition, there is no incentive for innovation. To me deactivating one of our most primal traits that is fundemental to everything in our life in some form or another is just asking for trouble.

But the quesiton is how important is competition for the fundamental inovations. Most big scientific discoveries where not made because of competition to find it first, but because the scientists had a love for nature and its secrets.

I agree though that if we removed all kind of agression it would be wierd, but if everyone was brought down to the agression level of someone like mahatma ghandi, or atlest everyone had the ability to controll agression in the same fashion, then the world would sure be a better place.

Besides, who's gonna whoop the aliens asses when they invade us and we're all a bunch of limp wristed pansies? We sure can't bitch slap them to death...

Ohh dont worry about them green bastards, we will keep a few nukes just for good measure.

[Phreak101]

what if scenario.

Im sure we will be able to design away some traits within a hundrad years of we want to. Question is, what do we give up and what do we gain by doing so.


Im all for designer humans. Evolution is to ****ing slow. If we can design away flaws like stupidity and inflated agression I dont se why not.

We wont evolve away from tribal mentality on our own, scratch the surface of any european or american and there is a savage there given the right circumstances. That will never change by its own.

Designer humans?? Give me designer reality! You pick a storyline for your life to be, then you plug your brain into a computer, go comatose, and "live your perfect life" until your body dies.

I took the blue pill :-P

[Kärnfysikern]

Designer humans?? Give me designer reality! You pick a storyline for your life to be, then you plug your brain into a computer, go comatose, and "live your perfect life" until your body dies.

I took the blue pill :-P

hell nah, virtual reality seems boring. Unless they make some wicked porn games.