Fruit flies are a powerful model organism to study human disease. Here are some reasons why:
70% of genes related to human disease in the human has a fly ortholog that is conserved, and fly and human systems (e.g. nervous system) have many similarities.
Fruit flies have fast generation times and are easy to maintain. We can get adult flies after 10 days of setting a cross!
Kelly et al. 2017 Fruit flies are an elegant genetic tool that we can use to study molecular and cellular effects or larger phenotypes of certain genes expressed in a tissue-specific manner or ubiquitously.
Numerous scientists have received Nobel Prizes for their impactful discoveries using Drosophila.
- 1933: Thomas Morgan – demonstrated the role of chromosomes in heredity.
- 1946: Hermann Muller – research on induced mutations in fruit flies using X-rays.
- 1995: Edward Lewis, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, and Eric Wieschaus – discoveries concerning the genetic control of early embryonic development, which they extensively studied using fruit flies.
- 2004: Richard Axel and Linda Buck – research on olfactory receptors and the organization of the olfactory system, which built upon research that also utilized fruit flies.
- 2011: Jules A. Hoffmann – research on the activation of innate immunity in fruit flies.
- 2017: Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young – the discovery of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm, which they extensively investigated using fruit flies.
Find out more here: https://www.nobelprize.org/drosophila/