# brain: learning on the fly (in D. melanogaster and mammals)

AA << have developed a new computational model that demonstrates a long sought after link between insect and mammalian learning (..)   Incorporating anatomical and functional data from recent experiments, Dr James Bennett and colleagues modelled how the anatomy and physiology of the fruit fly's brain can support learning according to the reward prediction error (RPE) hypothesis. >>️

<< The computational model indicates how dopamine neurons in an area of a fruit fly's brain, known as the mushroom body, can produce similar signals to dopamine neurons in mammals, and how these dopamine signals can reliably instruct learning. >>️

Learning on the fly. University of Sussex. May 7, 2021. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210507093941.htm

Bennett, J.E.M., Philippides, A.,  Nowotny, T. Learning with reinforcement prediction errors in a model of the Drosophila mushroom body. Nat Commun 12, 2569. doi: 10.1038/ s41467-021-22592-4. May 7,  2021. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22592-4   

Also

(+) keyword 'melanogaster' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=melanogaster

(+) Voli a casaccio. Notes. Oct 01, 2006. (quasi-stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/2006/10/2066-voli-casaccio.html

# gene: parental 'memory' could be inherited across generations

AA << tested the possibility that environmentally triggered modifications could allow 'memory' of parental experiences to be inherited. In Drosophila melanogaster, exposure to predatory wasps leads to inheritance of a predisposition for ethanol-rich food for five generations.  Inhibition of Neuropeptide-F (NPF) activates germline caspases required for transgenerational ethanol preference. Further, inheritance of low NPF expression in specific regions of F1 brains is required for the transmission of this food preference >>

<< Given the conserved signaling functions of NPF and its mammalian NPY homolog in drug and alcohol disorders, these observations raise the intriguing possibility of NPY-related transgenerational effects in humans. >>

Julianna Bozler, Balint Z Kacsoh, Giovanni Bosco. Transgenerational inheritance of ethanol preference is caused by maternal NPF repression.
eLife doi: 10.7554/eLife.45391.001. Jul 9, 2019.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/45391

Study finds that parental 'memory' is inherited across generations. The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. Jul 9, 2019.

https://m.phys.org/news/2019-07-parental-memory-inherited.html   

Also

"Neuropeptide-F"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/?term=Neuropeptide-F

http://flybase.org/reports/FBgn0027109.html 

https://www.wikigenes.org/e/gene/e/42018.html

# gst: apropos of 'strange' transitions to self-assemble into an egg; the coordinated elastic behavior to swirl in a vortex (D. melanogaster)

 << At the end of its first week of development, a striking change occurs in a fruit-fly egg cell. The cell’s internal fluid motion transitions from a disordered mix of small-scale flows to a single vortex that encompasses the entire cell. >> 

 << Given the fluid’s incompressibility, those forces can give rise to what the researchers call a  "swirling" instability, and the flow switches to a cell-spanning rotation. The threshold of molecular motor activity for the transition depends on the buckling of individual microtubules, which are treated as elastic rods. >> 

A Vortex in an Egg Cell. Physics 14, s1. Jan 13, 2021.  

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v14/s1

David B. Stein, Gabriele De Canio, et al. Swirling Instability of the Microtubule Cytoskeleton. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 028103.  doi: 10.1103/ PhysRevLett.126.028103. Jan 13, 2021.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.028103  

# behav: the smart sleep of flies (Drosophila melanogaster)

<< Flies that cannot take to the air respond by sleeping more as they learn to adapt to their flightlessness, (..) The findings, (..) suggest that sleep may be an evolutionary tool that helps animals adapt to challenging new situations. >>

<< Fruit flies' sleep looks a lot like people's. Baby flies need a lot of sleep, but as they get older, their need for sleep diminishes. Flies become more alert with caffeine and drowsier with antihistamines. And if you keep a fly awake one day, it will sleep more the next. >>

Flies sleep when need arises to adapt to new situations. Washington University School of Medicine. May 8, 2020.

https://phys.org/news/2020-05-flies-situations.html

K. Melnattur, B. Zhang, P. J. Shaw. Disrupting flight increases sleep and identifies a novel sleep-promoting pathway in Drosophila. Sci Adv 

Vol. 6, no. 19, eaaz2166. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaz2166. May 8, 2020.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/19/eaaz2166.full

Also

keyword 'Drosophila' in FonT

https://flashontrack.blogspot.com/search?q=drosophila

keyword 'mosca' in Notes (quasi- stochastic poetry)

https://inkpi.blogspot.com/search?q=mosca