Electric fields signal 'no flies zone'

Elektrische Felder haben offenbar einen nachweisbaren Einfluss auf Fruchtfliegen. Dies und weitere Erkenntnisse sollen nicht nur bei der Schädlingsbekämpfung helfen.

A new piece of research led by the Uni­versity of Southampton has found that the behaviour of fruit flies, which are commonly used in laboratory experi­ments, is altered by electric fields.

The research indicates that the wings of the insects are disturbed by static electric fields, leading to changes in avoidance behaviour and the neurochemical balance of their brains.

The paper, published in the Proceeding of the Royal Society B, suggests that the plastic housing laboratory fruit flies are commonly kept in (which hold their own static electric charge) could agitate the flies, changing their behaviour and neuro­chemical profile which has the potential to impact or confound other studies for which they are being used.

“Fruit flies are often used as model orga­nisms to understand fundamental prob­lems in biology,” say Professor Philip New­land, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study. “75 per cent of the genes that cause disease in humans are shared by fruit flies, so by studying them we can learn a lot about basic mechanisms.