 |
Sex-Specific Genes IdentifiedResearchers at Duke have identified several sex-specific genes that have male or female specific roles in the physiology of the adult fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The study, which was carried out by Sinsuke Fujji and Hubert Amrein in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology and was published in the most recent issue of EMBO Journal, sought to identify genes with roles in sex-specific behaviors, such as male courtship and female rejection and egg laying behavior. The authors applied a molecular genomics approach known as Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE), a method championed at Duke by Gregory Riggins, Department of Pathology, to find differences in the make up of genes expressed in either the male or female head of the fly. Our work in the science mediaScience Magazine Editor's Choice Fruit Fly Pheromone Receptor First Ever Discovered Linked to Specific Sexual BehaviorFor the first time in any animal, Duke University Medical Center researchers have linked a single pheromone receptor in the fruit fly to a specific sexual behavior. Pheromones are chemical signals exuded by many animals -- including humans -- that serve as stimuli to evoke behavioral responses in other individuals of the same species. Pheromones often attract members of the opposite sex and provide important cues during courtship and mating. Yet little is known about pheromone receptors, which are the protein switches nestled in cell membranes that trigger responses to pheromones, said Duke Medical Center geneticist Hubert Amrein, Ph.D., senior author of the study. Now, he and co-author Steven Bray, also of Duke, report that male Drosophila fruit flies lacking one type of taste receptor have difficulty recognizing females. Although the males initiate the courtship ritual, the flies' mating dance stalls when they apparently fail to detect the proper chemical cue from females. The sexually aberrant flies otherwise behaved normally, the researchers report in the Sept. 11, 2003, issue of Neuron. Our work in the science mediaScience Magazine Editor's Choice |
||