100 years of drosophila mutant research

In 1910, Thomas Hunt Morgan discovered the white-eyed drosophila mutant and located it to the sex chromosome. Drosophila's contribution to understanding the relationship between genes and behaviour began in the early 1970s when Seymour Benzer and his colleagues isolated mutations that affected circadian rhythms. Later experiments on classical conditioning led to the discovery of a mutant that has specific impairments in learning and memory, which were subsequently found to be caused by impairments to the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signalling pathway. Further screens detected and isolated mutations that affect courtship behaviour, movement, visual perception and ageing leading up to present day research on the role of molecular mechanisms in cognition and behaviour.