Wildtype (normal) male flies
Wildtype male flies generally ignore each other when placed together in a small chamber.
Genderblind mutant male flies
Male flies that lack a fully functioning genderblind gene show strong homosexual behavior. Notice how the male flies chase and attempt to copulate with each other.
Genderblind mutant male flies after treatment with γ-DGG
Hours after drinking apple juice laced with gamma-D-glutamylglycine (γ-DGG), which weakens glutamatergic synapse strength, genderblind mutant male flies no longer show homosexual courtship.
Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) display highly stereotyped courtship behavior.
Our research demonstrated that fly homosexual behavior is regulated by a glial amino acid transporter, which we named ‘genderblind’ because of the mutant phenotype shown in the movies below. Genderblind regulates the strength of glutamatergic synapses. Using this knowledge, we are able to pharmacologically induce or eliminate homosexual behavior. Heterosexual behavior was not affected.
Featherstone Lab movies: Neurophysiological basis of homosexual behavior in fruit flies
This work garnered a lot of press coverage, most of which was inaccurate. Links to some of the rare informative and relatively accurate descriptions of the work are below:
Hear Dave talk about the work published in Nature Neuroscience (Grosjean et al 2007)
Primary References:
Yael Grosjean, Micheline Grillet, Hrvoje Augustin, Jean-Francois Ferveur, and David E. Featherstone (2007) A glial amino acid transporter controls synapse strength and homosexual courtship in Drosophila. Nature Neuroscience (Dec; doi:10.1038/nn2019)
Hrvoje Augustin, Yael Grosjean, Kaiyun Chen, Qi Sheng, and David E. Featherstone (2007) Nonvesicular release of glutamate by glial xCT transporters suppresses glutamate receptor clustering in vivo. Journal of Neuroscience 27:111-123
