Fruit Fly Study Finds Circuitry Key to Mating
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A cluster of nerve cells linked to sexual behavior could mean the difference between being a success or failure with the ladies -- at least in fruit flies.
Scientists reported in the current issue of Nature that 60 cells are involved in fruit-fly sexual behavior. When they don’t work properly, males cannot complete specific steps of the courtship ritual and cannot reproduce.
“It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that human sexual behaviors also have underneath them a basic circuitry in the nervous system,” said lead author Bruce Baker of Stanford University.
