Ok, this report is way overdue! There are not one but two important papers out in the last couple of weeks on the genetic basis of Drosophila aggression. The first one is by Herman Dierick in Paul Greenspan's lab at the Neurosciences Insitute. I just met Herman last June when I visited his institute in La Jolla and he gave me his then still unpublished manuscript. He's agreat guy and I'm so happy for him that his work later appeared in the journal Nature Genetics. Just out now is a study in PLoS Genetics by Alexis Edwards and co-workers, which also is about the genetics of aggression in Drosophila fruit flies.
Both studies use the advantages of Drosophila neurogenetics to get at the genes involved in aggressive behaviors. Both reports describe a selection regime, in which aggressive and non-aggressive strains were produced by selecting especially aggressive flies and especially docile flies. The researchers then went on to characterize the genetic differences between the two strains. They found a diverse array of genes in their screens and future research will now have to comb through these genes and tryto understand what makes fruit flies fight.
The research has been also featured by EurekAlert, Science Daily 1 and Science Daily 2 and the Allen Neuroscience Gateway.