Bacterial Infections Disrupt Flies’ Sense of Smell

The temporary loss of olfaction stops the flies from eating any more of whatever it is that made them sick.

Written byAbby Olena, PhD

| 4 min read

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When someone gets food poisoning, it might be a while before they want to eat the thing that made them sick again, and the same is true for fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). In a study published today (July 21) in Nature, researchers determined that after a bacterial infection in the gut, glial cells and neurons in the fly brain communicate in a way that tamps down olfaction and protects the animals from eating the pathogen again.

These authors “unraveled a mechanism that on the genetic, neuronal, and organismic level connects bacteria in the gut all the way to behavior,” says Ilona Grunwald Kadow, a neuroscientist at the Technical University of Munich who did not participate in the study. “It may be one of the fundamental ways that good or bad microorganisms in our gut impact our brains.”

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Meet the Author

Abby Olena, PhD
As a freelancer for The Scientist, Abby reports on new developments in life science for the website. She has a PhD from Vanderbilt University and got her start in science journalism as the Chicago Tribune’s AAAS Mass Media Fellow in 2013. Following a stint as an intern for The Scientist, Abby was a postdoc in science communication at Duke University, where she developed and taught courses to help scientists share their research. In addition to her work as a science journalist, she leads science writing and communication workshops and co-produces a conversational podcast. She is based in Alabama.
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