Male Specific Neurons In Flies

Have you watched a fly chase another fly all around the room and ever wonder how they manage to always be so close together even though the prey is trying its best to get away? Well, some scientists wondered. They were intrigued with this "mating chase" of the male fly after the female fly. You could say that the female was trying to play hard to get while the male lustily engages the pursuit.

The male nearly always gets his "prey". However, if the female fly tried to chase the male, she would have no such luck. This is due to the sexual dimorphism of the fly. The male fly has a superior visual system to the female which he can use to locate and intercept the female fly in flight; however, the female fly does not have this advantage. The male-specific neurons that control the fly's superior visual system are complicated and intricate.

The history behind the study of the fly's neurons begins with a 19th Century scientist by the name of Cajal. He studied neural systems and was the first to isolate nerve cells near the surface of the brain. His work led to a greater study of neurobiology and the passion for attempting to understand the workings of the nervous system. However, real progress in this field did not culminate until Land and Collett established a remarkable theoretical model of the two part visual system of the fly's brain.

This model was incredibly close to the actual structure and function of the male fly's visual system. The structure of the male's eyes are even different to the female's. When looking at the two side by side, one can readily see the differences. Even these outer physical differences attribute to the male's superiority with his binocular vision and the ability to keep a target continually in his...

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...y will compensate, yaw, pitch, and thrust, to return the target image into the area of male specific neurons. This behavior is found only in male flies, and while female flies are attracted to flickering objects as males are, they do not use have a different system to control yaw torque as males do. The males employ a position- independent system of tracking using yaw adjustments, relying on direction. This allows the males to intercept a target or change direction in tracking without overshooting the target. Females are unable to do this. The males also use pitch and thrust to pursue other flies. The position of the target in the mid-sagittal plane drives the pitch, based on the elevation of the target's image. Thrust relates to the distance between the pursuer and the target. The relationship between target range and velocity is shown to be male-specific behavior.