Genetically engineered bugs can smell blue light.Submitted by George Overmeire on Fri, 05/28/2010 - 08:39 |
Via: ScienceDaily (May 26, 2010).
Scientists at Germany's Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum have succeeded to genetically modify Drosophila (fruit fly) larvae allowing them to smell blue light.
The research team can activate single receptor neurons out of 28 olfactory neurons in the larvae for this sensory perception. Normally animals avoid light. However, blue light simulates in genetically modified larvae the smell of an odorant, e.g., banana, marzipan or glue -- odors which are all present in rotting fruit and attractive to fruit fly larvae. The team of scientists from Bochum and Göttingen, working under the auspices of Prof. Klemens Störtkuhl, hopes to gain insight into the processing of the neural network. They have published their findings in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience Behavior.
Lees verder:
Het oorspronkelijke artikel "Optogenetically induced olfactory stimulation in Drosophila larvae reveales the neuronal basis of odor-aversion behavior" in "Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience". - Discover Magazine.
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