Neurons regulate fruit fly light avoidance

Canadian researchers say they have identified groups of neurons that regulate how fruit flies avoid light.

McMaster University Associate Professor Ana Campos and researcher Veronica Moncalvo examined light avoidance after selectively deactivating groups of neurons in the larvae of Drosophila, a genus of fruit fly. The neurons they deactivated used dopamine, serotonin or corazonin to communicate with other neurons.

The study found neurons using serotonin and corazonin, but not dopamine, influenced light aversion. That influence was evident during the larval stage when fruit flies typically avoid light, and even in later stages of development when fruit flies neither seek nor avoid light. The researchers said the influence appears to be taking place with neurons in the brain, and not at neurons in the light receptors.

These findings provide new insights into the function of “¦ neurons in Drosophila larval behavior, as well as into the mechanisms underlying regulation of larval response to light, Campos said.

The study appears in the journal BMC Neuroscience.