Scientists at the University of Cambridge have compared all neural connections in the brains of male and female fruit flies, revealing for the first time in concrete terms how genes shape the brain and behavior.
“Elchi” reports that researchers from the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the UK have mapped all 124 million neural connections in the male fruit fly brain.
Combined with the map of the female fly’s brain completed two years ago, this study has revealed the neurological differences between the two sexes in the smallest detail.
Comparing this development to the invention of a powerful telescope that allows for a better understanding of the universe, the scientists emphasize that they have found an answer to one of the fundamental biological questions: how genes dictate brain structure and the behavior of living organisms.
Small circuit differences lead to major behavioral changes
Analyses show that 95 percent of brain cells are common in female and male flies. However, the remaining 5 percent difference in the circuit leads to distinct changes in behavior.
Visual circuits that allow male flies to pursue females during mating, connections that regulate aggressive fighting behavior, and neurological structures that control the mating song created by wing vibration – all stem from this small difference. For the first time, researchers have been able to observe which physical connections correspond to these behaviors, which are regulated by two key genes in the brain.
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