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Flies with personality

Research

Fruit flies, Drosophila, are more individual than previously thought, according to new research from a team led by Professor Scott Waddell of the University of Oxford Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour.

The study found that transposons, or ‘jumping genes,’* which have the ability to change position within the genome and possibly cause mutation, are active in neurons in the fly brain.  The inherent randomness of the process is likely to make every fly brain unique, potentially providing behavioural individuality, or fly personality.   

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