PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Those fruit flies are pickier than you think

2013-12-05
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Mary Beth O'Leary
moleary@cell.com
617-397-2802
Cell Press
Those fruit flies are pickier than you think

On your kitchen counter, it might seem as though fruit flies will show up for just about any type of fruit you leave around for them. But when given a choice about where to lay their eggs, those flies will go for citrus most of the time, new work shows. The basis for that seemingly complex food preference is surprisingly simple, according to a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 5. It boils down to a single odorant receptor found on a single class of sensory neurons.

"When it comes to egg-laying, flies are more picky than previously thought," says Marcus Stensmyr, who is now at Lund University. "They are not indiscriminately using any old fruit encountered, but show a clear preference towards citrus."

The new work suggests a very good reason for the flies' preference. Parasitoid wasps that would like to turn fly larvae into food for their young have an aversion to citrus, Stensmyr and his colleague Bill Hansson from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology show. As a result, fly larvae kept on substrates laden with citrus-derived ingredients suffer a reduced risk of parasitism.

Citrus has a very characteristic smell, derived from a handful of chemical ingredients (and limonene in particular), the researchers explain. Those chemicals are the basis for the flies' preference, driven by a single receptor known as Or19a. Flies lacking that one receptor lose their ability to identify and select an apple versus an orange.

The discovery is another example of how seemingly complex behaviors can be driven by relatively simple underlying mechanisms.

"Complex behaviors can often be broken down into multiple subroutines," Stensmyr says. "Although the ensuing behavior in the end is complex, each of the subroutines that together feed into the decision process can have a simple genetic basis."

So why don't wasps go for citrus if there are fly larvae to be found? It's not entirely clear, Stensmyr and Hansson say, but there might be other aspects of citrus fruit—their thick skin, perhaps—that make them unsuitable for wasps. And, as anyone who has ever left a banana around too long knows, flies will settle for other fruits, too.

For those of you at home, however, it might be worth rethinking those aging limes and lemons at the bottom of that fruit bowl.



INFORMATION:

Current Biology, Dweck et al.: "Olfactory Preference for Egg Laying on Citrus Substrates in Drosophila."



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists accelerate aging in stem cells to study age-related diseases like Parkinson's

2013-12-05
Scientists accelerate aging in stem cells to study age-related diseases like Parkinson's Stem cells hold promise for understanding and treating neurodegenerative diseases, but so far they have failed to accurately model disorders that occur late in life. A study published by ...

Electrical brain stimulation may evoke a person's 'will to persevere'

2013-12-05
Electrical brain stimulation may evoke a person's 'will to persevere' VIDEO: What gives some people the ability to persevere through difficult situations that others may find ...

Tracking exercise as vital sign associated with weight loss and better glucose control for patients

2013-12-05
Tracking exercise as vital sign associated with weight loss and better glucose control for patients Asking patients about their exercise habits was associated with weight loss in overweight patients and improved glucose control for patients with diabetes, according ...

How mosquitoes are drawn to human skin and breath

2013-12-05
How mosquitoes are drawn to human skin and breath UC Riverside researchers identify affordable, safe and pleasant-smelling compounds that can help control spread of mosquito-borne diseases RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Female mosquitoes, which can transmit deadly ...

New finding shows that mother sharks 'home' to their birthplace to give birth, like salmon and sea turtles

2013-12-05
New finding shows that mother sharks 'home' to their birthplace to give birth, like salmon and sea turtles Research suggests local shark conservation efforts by individual nations can have an impact Research conducted in Bimini in The ...

Laser light at useful wavelengths from semiconductor nanowires

2013-12-05
Laser light at useful wavelengths from semiconductor nanowires Nanowire lasers could work with silicon chips, optical fibers, even living cells Thread-like semiconductor structures called nanowires, so thin that they are effectively one-dimensional, ...

New study explains why promising dementia drugs failed in clinical trials

2013-12-05
New study explains why promising dementia drugs failed in clinical trials Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia among older people, yet there currently are no effective drugs to stop, slow or prevent disease progression. A study online December 5th in the ...

Membrane enzymes 'stop and frisk' proteins indiscriminately

2013-12-05
Membrane enzymes 'stop and frisk' proteins indiscriminately New insights may explain difficulty of finding drugs for infectious disease For what is believed to be the first time, researchers at The Johns Hopkins University have illuminated the inner workings of ...

Sanford-Burnham researchers identify new target to treat psoriasis

2013-12-05
Sanford-Burnham researchers identify new target to treat psoriasis Scientists identify a molecular pathway that rebalances the immune system by turning down inflammatory T-cell responses providing a new target to treat inflammatory ailments ...

Protein clumps as memory

2013-12-05
Protein clumps as memory Yeast cells are able to form a memory through an aggregate Yeast has a somewhat complicated love life: on the one hand, a mother cell can produce genetically identical daughter cells through mitosis (cell division); on the other hand, yeast cells, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

CeSPIACE: A broad-spectrum peptide inhibitor against variable SARS-CoV-2 spikes

Understanding the origin of magnetic moment enhancement in novel alloys

BU researchers develop computational tools to safeguard privacy without degrading voice-based cognitive markers

Breakthrough in rapid polymer nanostructure production

Artificial photosynthesis: Researchers mimic plants

Social disadvantage can accelerate ageing and increase disease risk

Breaking free from dependence on rare resources! A domestic high-performance permanent magnet emerges!

Symptoms of long-COVID can last up to two years after infection with COVID-19

Violence is forcing women in Northern Ireland into homelessness, finds new report

Latin American intensivists denounce economic and cultural inequities in the global scientific publishing system

Older adults might be more resistant to bird flu infections than children, Penn research finds

Dramatic increase in research funding needed to counter productivity slowdown in farming

How chemistry and force etch mysterious spiral patterns on solid surfaces

Unraveling the mysteries of polycystic kidney disease

Mother’s high-fat diet can cause liver stress in fetus, study shows

Weighing in on a Mars water debate

Researchers ‘seq’ and find a way to make pig retinal cells to advance eye treatments

Re-purposed FDA-approved drug could help treat high-grade glioma

Understanding gamma rays in our universe through StarBurst

Study highlights noninvasive hearing aid 

NASA taps UTA to shape future of autonomous aviation

Mutations disrupt touch-based learning, study finds

Misha lived in zoos, but the elephant’s tooth enamel helps reconstruct wildlife migrations

Eat better, breathe easier? Research points to link between diet, lung cancer

Mesozoic mammals had uniform dark fur

Wartime destruction of Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine has long-term environmental consequences

NIH’s flat 15% funding policy is misguided and damaging

AI reveals new insights into the flow of Antarctic ice

Scientists solve decades-long Parkinson’s mystery

Spinning, twisted light could power next-generation electronics

[Press-News.org] Those fruit flies are pickier than you think