Contact: Valene Marshall
vmarshal@nsf.gov
703-292-2984
National Science Foundation

Fluorescent Fruit Flies Shed New Light

Caption: Syracuse University biologists are now able to study previously unobservable events tied to sexual selection. That's because they were able to genetically alter fruit flies so that the heads of their sperm were fluorescent green or red. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Scott Pitnick and his colleagues have acquired new information about just what happens between insemination and fertilization; observations which Pitnick says are opening a new door for the fields of reproductive biology, sexual selection, and speciation. And, a lot of long-held beliefs about what goes on in the female reproductive tract have gone out the window with these new images.

Credit: Marsha Walton, Science Nation Producer

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