Aggression-promoting pheromone discovered in flies
Sunday, December 6, 2009 - 17:21
in Biology & Nature
Scientists say they have identified an aggression-promoting pheromone that controls such behavior in Drosophila, and have pinpointed the neurons in the fly's antenna that detect this pheromone and relay the information to the brain to elicit aggression. Their results provide an important first step toward unraveling the mystery of how aggression -- an innate (unlearned) behavior -- is hardwired into the brain by an animal's genes.