Drosophila melanogaster
The alcohol produced by rotten fruit makes the males of the more “sexy” fruit flies. But the line between the attractive “cup” and the repulsive “drunken” “cup.”
Alcohol produced by rotten fruit increases the production of sex pheromonas in the males of Fruit Fliesmaking them more attractive to females, according to a study this Wednesday at Science Advances.
But alcohol consumption should be done “in moderation”, so that the concentration of the odor is only attractive to repulsive, and flies have a control mechanism that acts as a brake, preventing intoxication.
The work of a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology in Germany shows that there is “one direct and positive effect of alcohol consumption on male flies mating success”.
This is due to the fact that “alcohol, especially the Methanol [composto químico também conhecido como álcool metílico]Increasing sexual pheromone production, ”which makes males“ more attractive to females and guarantees a higher rate of mating success, ”said the first author of the article, Ian Keesey, quoted in.
Flow gives fruit (Drosophila melanogaster), is attracted to the smell of rotten fruit, where microorganisms, especially yeast, have multiplied, changing their metabolism to alcoholic fermentation, so the rotten fruit contains significant amounts of alcohol.
According to the study, unpaired males in particular are attracted to alcohol. However, alcohol attraction is controlled by the way male flies detect and process the smell of substance in their brains because It is important to evaluate properly whether the concentration of odor is still attractive or repulsive to prevent alcoholic poisoningaccording to scientists.
“What is unique in our results is that we have found, not just one, but three neural circuits [rede de neurónios]that we can show that they balance in terms of this risk assessment, ie attraction and aversion. This means that flies have a control mechanism that allows them to obtain all the benefits of alcohol consumption without risking alcoholic poisoning, ”Keesey explained.
It has been found that the attraction for alcohol in fruit flies is based on two sensory input to ethanol and methanol and that, in case of excessive and toxic concentrations, especially methanol, a third way causes repulsion.
Researchers have combined physiological studies such as image techniques to visualize fly brain processes, chemical analysis of ecologically relevant environmental odors, and behavioral studies to observe and measure odor attractiveness and mating success.
Keesey said it was “rare that different neural pathways with opposite valences for the same odor combine to balance attraction and aversion depending on the physiological state.”
According to the director of the Max Planck Neuroetology Department, Bill Hansson, the study provides one of the first comprehensive explanations of alcohol attraction in a model organism, from chemistry to ecology and brain to behavior and vice versa.
