Octopamine fuels fighting flies

Nat Neurosci. 2008 Sep;11(9):989-90. doi: 10.1038/nn0908-989.

Abstract

The neural basis of aggression is poorly understood. A study in this issue used genetic scalpels to dissect the circuitry of the fly brain and identified a small cluster of octopaminergic neurons that can make a fly fighting mad.

Publication types

  • Comment
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Aggression*
  • Animals
  • Diptera / physiology*
  • Ganglia, Invertebrate / cytology
  • Mixed Function Oxygenases / genetics
  • Neurons / physiology
  • Octopamine / physiology*

Substances

  • Octopamine
  • Mixed Function Oxygenases
  • tyramine beta-hydroxylase