Natural Variation in Decision-Making Behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

There has been considerable recent interest in using Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the molecular basis of decision-making behavior. Deciding where to place eggs is likely one of the most important decisions for a female fly, as eggs are vulnerable and larvae have limited motility. Here, we show that many natural genotypes of D. melanogaster prefer to lay eggs near nutritious substrate, rather than in nutritious substrate. These preferences are highly polymorphic in both degree and direction, with considerable heritability (0.488) and evolvability

A novel approach for biomarker selection and the integration of repeated measures experiments from two assays

Background: High throughput 'omics' experiments are usually designed to compare changes observed between different conditions (or interventions) and to identify biomarkers capable of characterizing each condition. We consider the complex structure of repeated measurements from different assays where different conditions are applied on the same subjects