Youngstown Daily Legal News

OSU study: Researchers observe wing use by fruit flies for purpose other than flying

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 28, 2018

Take away a fruit fly's wings and the insect would no longer be able to fly - nor would it be able to smell, new research by Ohio State University scientists found.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found fruit flies' tiny, translucent wings contribute more to sniffing out food, a mate and other important scents than they do to optimize flight.

According to a press release, scientists long have wondered about the balance between an insect's dual needs for flight and odor-based navigation.

Researchers were skeptical about the dual-purposes hypothesis. Olfaction and bioengineering expert Kai Zhao, an associate professor of otolaryngology at OSU, thought the idea didn't make a whole lot of sense based on the design of the fruit fly. Study co-author Chengyu Li's mechanical engineering background led him to reckon the bug's wings were made for speed and agility, likely nothing more.

The duo satisfied their curiosity with a computer simulation of a fruit fly in flight, encountering a plume of scent.

The bug's wings not only flapped up and down, they flipped forward and up as the wings approach the insect's head. This motion, researchers reasoned, was to "scoop" streams of odor right to the insect's antennae.

"We can see that the insect's wings could help it detect food, survive and find mates," Li said.

Further observation led researchers to speculate that the fruit fly's wings evolved to support two of its life needs: Fast transport and detection of the faint odors in its atmosphere.

"The structure of the wing does not appear to be optimal for aerodynamics, even though they are amazing fliers," Zhao said. "Odor is very important for insects, and this study seems to suggest that the wings balance the need for that as well."

The research could inform future engineering studies modeled on nature's fliers, particularly work to refine drones, Zhao said. Further, there could be applications related to military drones designed to "smell" threats, such as bombs or chemical weapons, he said.

The researchers are interested in applying this type of computer simulation to other insects, the press release detailed.

The National Institutes of Health supported the research.

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