Into the mind of a fly

Abstract

Where do animal behaviours come from and are they controlled by genes? This is the fundamental question posed by the field of neurogenetics. Pioneering work from the 1960s in Seymour Benzer's laboratory demonstrated for the first time that Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies could be mutated to obtain animals with insomnia, learning disabilities and homosexual courtship behaviours. ©2007 Nature Publishing Group.