Identification of an aggression-promoting pheromone and its receptor neurons in Drosophila

Spoiling for a fight: an aggression pheromone in Drosophila Pheromones controlling aggression have been identified in insects and in mice, but the nature of the neuronal circuits involved remains unclear. Liming Wang and David Anderson show that the volatile pheromone cVA (cis-vaccenyl acetate) produced by the male fruitfly promotes male-to-male aggression by activating olfactory sensory neurons expressing a cVA receptor protein, Or67d. This neuronal circuit may regulate male population density on a food resource through cVA-promoted aggression and consequent male fly dispersal, which in turn lowers cVA levels, thereby reducing aggression. This work in the classic genetic model Drosophila — using machine vision technology described in a recent Nature feature ( page 562 in the 3 December issue ) and shown in movie form at go.nature.com/o8sRLs — opens the study of aggressive behaviour to detailed genetic manipulation and investigation.