Gene Found to Alter the Sexuality of Fruit Flies

Remove all ads!

What is people's opinion on this? True, it says that the implications for humans is difficult to comprehend at the moment what with (most of us) being more complicated than fruit flies, but it certainly has some interesting relevance. It may also have some effect on those that believe homosexuality to be a choice rather than something taht canot be helped.

Article

 

First off, I can't help but point out the irony that the tests were done on "fruit" flies.

But to be serious, this is part of the larger debate of genetic engineering. Personally, I'm in favor of this in order to cure disease or defects. However, I've never considered homosexuality to be either one. To genetically alter sexuality is a slippery slope. Having said that, people have procedures all the time to change themselves (plastic surgery, etc.), so if this were to somehow be made available to humans, and someone wanted to change their sexual orientation, then why not?

 

This still seems to eliminate the possibility for free will. While there may be a gene that makes homosexuality preferable in some people, this does not make it normal. They still have the choice to resist this temptation. It doesn't change my opinion.

 

Much like how the mentally ill have the choice to "resist" their genetic "preference"?

 

I wonder if this means the military will restart funding the "Gay Bomb"?

 

In the realm of genetics, you'd be surprised how similar we are to fruit flies. DNA works pretty much the exact same way for all living things in the planet. There's tons of proteins, structures, and compounds that are produced universally throughout the animal kingdom.

 

Scientific progress goes bo(i)nk again! ...but wasn't this fruit-fly thing old news?

 

That is indeed very true; the implications are certainly there. As Splunge says, perhaps in the future it will become as optional as plastic surgery, which is entirely up to the person in question even if others may think it unnecessary.

Also, I like the username

 

Well, that would certainly explain my wings. Not to mention why I get slapped a lot.

 

I always read through my posts before pressing the "reply" button. And when I read that one I thought to myself, "I wonder if I'm setting myself up for some sarcastic reply from Splunge or Death Rabbit?" The answer, obviously, was "yes" although for some reason I thought otherwise at the time.

On topic, I'm not sure I would place it in the realm of plastic surgury. But that's probably because I don't consider homosexuality a problem that needs to be "fixed". Of course, given the technology, it should also be possible for someone who is straight to become gay.

 

Absolutely, unlike one reaction I've heard which claimed that homosexuality is a mental disorder and this research is a good step towards a cure. I know who I think is mental after a comment like that!

 

Never underestimate the power of "smart-ass". I am but a padawan to DR's mastery.

I considered that as well when I wrote my first post. Imagine being able to change your sexual orientation as frequently as you change your shirt.

 

Male and female fruit flies fight differently. Males stand on their hind legs and box and females head butt. I read that with a gene swap males can be made to fight like females and vice versa.

The disturbing part is how the researchers incited the male flies to fight in the first place. They would offer a female to the males to fight over but often she would fly away while the males were busy fighting. So, they began cutting the female's head off so she would stay put...the males still fought over her, courted her, and sometimes mounted her.

Lord Domino,
Most people who believe that homosexuality is a choice will never be swayed to see it any other way, regardless of the evidence to the contrary.

 

Sexual orientation in fruit flies may be just a matter of a gene but in human beings it is a lot more complicated. Which is one of the reasons why we get these arguments over choice or not choice.

In the seventh grade I had a crush on one of my female teachers (for anyone who doesn't know, I am female.) I have also just plain downright lusted after Sean Connery. So?

I guess studies like this are good. Knowledge is good, right? I had a friend who as a child had been sexually abused. I doubt that changing a gene would have changed her sexual orientation as it was psychologically caused.

 

While, yes, i see where your going with that, but Gene therapy, while not yet being a perfect treatment, isnt easy, and can be rather painful. Also, then comes the matter of finding a decent vector for the gene, whether its a virus some other vector.

 

Nakia, that is a good point and one reason why an article like this, while interesting, is not really telling. I think the most interesting part of this article was that they mamaged to reproduce the effect with chemical therapy instead of genetic therapy. Even that isn't suprising, however.

Consider this: genetics in any creature creates the foundation, the basic structure, around which the creature develops. In all creatures, environment plays a sizable factor in exactly how the creature grows around that structure, though to varying degrees. different chemical supplies, different stressors, different predators will cause genetically identical creatures to develope differently (again, how much so changes from creature to creature).

Fruit flies are heavily determined by genetics and only a little by environment. Humans, on the other hand, are heavily influenced by environment, society, and learning, and seem to have less and less that we think is determined by genetics as we learn more. It seems that almost every factor of the human psyche can be drastically influenced by socialization, though a detailed exploration of most of these would require some of the so-called forbidden experiments. Our few experiences with them, however, have yet to reveal anything that is hardwired in the human mind.

 

I am starting to wonder if it is much of a choice. The more we learn about genetics the heavier the heritage scale gets and the lighter the environment scale gets. I am starting to turni into a determinationist (sp?) here, questioning free will on any choice but the trivial daily ones. The more we learn hte more it seems we are just biological machines, programmed to do certain things and we do, sentience or not.

 

I agree with Joacqin on that. If anyone wants a good "What If..." Scenario about Genetics, i suggest reading "Next" by Michael Crichton.

 

There's some truth to that, but really not all that much. You see, we already knew that environment impacts a great deal about how we grow, mature, and act. Now, genetics is beginning to show it can influence things, too. I have yet to hear of anything, save the unimportant things like hair color, that is purely determined by genetics, especially where behavior is determined. Genetics is making all the news, basically, because it's new.