Fighting Like a Girl or Boy Determined By Gene in Fruit Flies

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Flies readying to fight. Credit: Harvard Medical School
Flies readying to fight. Credit: Harvard Medical School

Fighting like a girl or fighting like a boy is hardwired into fruit fly neurons, according to a study in the Nov. 19 Nature Neuroscience advance online publication by a research team from Harvard Medical School and the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna. The results confirm that a gene known as “fruitless” is a key factor underlying sexual differences in behavior. The findings mark a milestone in an unlikely new animal model for understanding the biology of aggression and how the nervous system gives rise to different behaviors.


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