These fruit flies spontaneously swarm together in a test dish. A new study shows that the smell which attracts them is not produced by their food or by other flies, but by bacteria living in their guts. (Credit: Reuven Dukas)
Fruit flies are most attracted to fruit that already has flies on it, but what exactly are they smelling?
A new study shows that the odour that attracts the flies is produced by neither the fruit nor the other flies and larva. Instead bacteria living in the guts of those other flies and larva produce the smell. The bacteria are the same ones that give foods like sauerkraut and pickles their funky smell. Food covered in flies that had their bacteria removed was not as attractive to new flies as the same food covered in flies whose gut bacteria remained intact.
Original research paper published in The Journal of Current Biology on April 16, 2014.
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