Gay flies turned on by heat

Link : http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992803

A mere change in temperature is all it takes for the males of a new line of genetically engineered flies to switch from being heterosexual to suddenly courting other males.

The switch occurs within minutes and is fully reversible, meaning scientists have for the first time a system they can manipulate to study how some brain regions may be involved in determining sexual orientation.

Whether the secrets unveiled by these peculiar flies will shed any light on human sexual preference is still unclear. Some of the neurons affected by the genetic changes are involved in sensing pheromones. These play an important role in fly courtship behaviour, but their influence in human sexual behaviour is unknown.

Toshihiro Kitamoto of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope in California created the flies, but is reluctant to extrapolate the findings: "It's a very sensitive issue."

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