My new favorite blog Mad Science Mama has an amazing post about scientists who tweaked a gene in fruitflies that seemed to govern sex-specific behavior. And what did altering this gene change? The fruitflies’ fighting styles, of course:

The gene called “fruitless” is known for its role in male courtship… The same gene directs another sex-specific behavior — fighting patterns, the new study shows. Female fighting, for example, largely involves head butts and some shoving. Males prefer lunges; they rear up on their back legs and snap their forelegs down hard – sometimes nailing an opponent that is slow to retreat.

The flies undergo a major role reversal when the male and female gene versions are switched. With a feminine fruitless gene, male flies adopt more ladylike tactics, mostly the head butt and some shoving. With the masculine fruitless gene, females instinctively lunge to the exclusion of their usual maneuvers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 2:54 pm and is filed under Sex & gender. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.