Gut Male

Inside humans, and our distant relation the fruit fly, cells send out signals called cytokines – prompts to their neighbours to grow, to move, to begin or stop. Working alongside instructions coded in our genes, this chemical chatter helps to shape our lives – but how this collaboration works is still revealing itself to scientists. In this fruit fly’s torso, with many of its cells highlighted in blue and muscles in red, cytokines produced in the testes encourage part of the nearby intestine to become more 'masculine' (yellow). Unlike female flies, this male gut makes more citrate – a chemical essential for making healthy sperm. Researchers are also examining chemical cues in females, building evidence that a cell’s sexual identity can be guided by chemicals and not just its genes. They also plan to look at how other organs are packed into the body, perhaps making communication more likely in health and disease.

Read more about this research here

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Bruno Hudry and colleagues
• MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, London, UK
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in Cell, August 2019