Why so fly? Scientists discover some fruit flies learn better than others

Past experiments studying how fruit flies' ability to learn and remember have involved "turning off" a single gene and watching the response. In this study, the scientists took a different approach by placing fruit flies in a box equipped with heating elements. When the heat was turned on, the flies -- uncomfortable in heat -- moved to the far side of the box where it was cooler. A fly's ability to avoid the heat measured how well it learned, and a fly's ability to avoid the hotter side of the box, even when the heat was off, measured its capacity to remember.

"Some flies learn fast and remember to stay away from the heat whereas some flies take longer to figure it out," said Patricka Williams-Simon, a doctoral fellow in biological sciences who led the study. "We repeated the experiment with over 40,000 individual fruit flies from over 700 different genes to establish variation in performance. Then, we focused on the high and the low learning and memory performers."

The scientists then took these results and applied genetic sequencing technology to determine if specific genes were responsible for these observed changes in a fly's behavior. They found nine genes that show a change between high and low performing files when it comes to learning and memory.

"All of these genes are previously known to affect the nervous system or the brain in some way, but none of them had previously been implicated in learning and memory," said Elizabeth King, an assistant professor of biological sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. "Therefore, they represent novel areas to further investigate these behavioral traits."

While the study is considered basic research, Williams-Simon said their findings are important.

"The better we can understand these traits in fruit flies, the more we can develop targeted studies in humans," Williams-Simon said.