A study published today by
Nature Neuroscience (online only) "finds drugs or genetic manipulation can turn the homosexual behavior of fruit flies on and off within a matter of hours.".
Here's a link to an article about the paper for those who don't have access to
Nature Neuroscience:
Homosexuality Turned On and Off in Fruit Flies | Live Science
Here's a cite to the paper:
Nature NeurosciencePublished online: 9 December 2007
A glial amino-acid transporter controls synapse strength and homosexual courtship in Drosophila
Yael Grosjean, Micheline Grillet, Hrvoje Augustin, Jean-Franois Ferveur & David E Featherstone
It seems they found a "genderblind" (GB) mutation. Males carrying GB were attracted to males; females, females.
By altering the amount of glutamate in those carrying GB, the researchers could turn homosexuality on and off.
They think that "glutamatergic synapses were altered in some way".
They were also able to turn homosexuality on and off by altering synapse strength with something other than glutamate.
The team figured fly brains maintain two sensory circuits: one to trigger heterosexual behavior and one for homosexual. When GB suppresses glutamatergic synapses, the homosexual circuit is blocked, the thinking goes.
So they did more tests. As expected, without GB to suppress synapse strength, the flies no longer interpreted smells the same way. The smells in question come in the form of pheromones, chemicals that affect sexual behavior in much of the animal kingdom.
This finding is going to present a problem for the "Gay-is-a-choice" crowd.
I'm curious.
How do our local "Gay-is-a-choice" folks view this finding?