Scientists discovered the behavior of fruit flies can be influenced by electric fields that manipulate their wing movements.
The new findings show the wings of insects are disturbed by static electric fields, which can lead to changes in avoidance behavior and even the neurochemical balance of the brain, the University of Southampton reported. This suggests the plastic housing laboratory flies are usually kept in could agitate the insects and change both their behavioral and chemical profiles.
"Fruit flies are often used as model organisms to understand fundamental problems in biology," said Professor Philip Newland, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southampton and lead author of the study. "75 percent 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. Plastic can retain a charge for a long period and, given the use of plastic in the rearing of these insects and other small insects such as mosquitos, long term exposure to these fields is inevitable."
To make their findings, the researchers put fruit flies in a Y-shaped maze in which one arm was exposed to an electric charge while the other was not. They observed the flies tended to avoid the electrically charged section, but flies with no wings did not display this behavior and insects with smaller wings required higher charges to show behavioral changes. The scientists also observed the wings of the flies could be manipulated by the electrical fields.
"When a fly was placed underneath a negatively charged electrode, the static field forces caused elevation of the wings toward the electrode, as opposite charges were attracted," Newland said. "Static electric fields are all around us but for a small insect like a fruit fly it appears these fields' electrical charges are significant enough to have an effect on their wing movement and this means they will avoid them if possible."
When the electric field interfered with the flies' wing movements, it appeared to agitate them. They showed higher levels of octopamine, which indicated stress and aggression, as well as lower levels of dopamine. While the study has major implications for the use of flies in labs, it also has a number of other applications.
"We are particularly interested in how electric fields could be used in pest control," said co-author Christopher Jackson, also of Southampton. "Meshes that can generate static electric fields could be put across windows of houses or green houses to prevent insects like fruit flies or even mosquitos entering, yet allow air movement. It also raises questions of how pollinating species like bees could be affected by power lines, which have stronger electric fields."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society B.
