How Do Flies Turn Into Magnets?

When flies are exposed to magnetic fields, they exhibit both trained and naive responses. Flies with a CRY deficiency do not display these responses. This study shows that the mechanism responsible for magnetoreception is not dependent on the circadian clock. It is the first evidence of such a system in an animal.

A genetic background of this sensitivity can be used to create a mutant fly that is unable to respond to a magnetic field. Cryb mutant flies are unable to respond to magnetic fields due to a chemically-induced missense mutation in CRYB, with an unknown genetic background. The naive response was enhanced in the control w1118 flies that were trained to prefer a magnetic field.

These results suggest that the fly has a photoreceptor-based system, which responds to magnetic fields in different wavelengths. The light used in the study should be UV-A/blue, so the response to a magnet is wavelength-dependent. This effect may also depend on the type of magnetic field (i.e. full-spectrum light or UV-B light) or its intensity.

Ammonite Films has developed a method to observe maggot-to-fly transformation in a laboratory setting. The method involves inserting the larva into an empty tube and observing it transform into a fly. This process is also a result of an inflatable head sac that pushes the fly out of its puparium.

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