Table of Contents
What are fruit flies used for in research?
The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is used as a model organism to study disciplines ranging from fundamental genetics to the development of tissues and organs.
Who used fruit flies to study genetics?
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Thomas Hunt Morgan was the preeminent biologist studying Drosophila early in the 1900’s. He was the first to discover sex-linkage and genetic recombination, which placed the small fly in the forefront of genetic research.
Why are fruit flies useful organisms for studying genetic crosses?
75 per cent of the genes that cause disease in humans are also found in the fruit fly. Fruit fly are small (3 mm long) but not so small that they can’t be seen without a microscope. This allows scientists to keep millions of them in the laboratory at a time. They are inexpensive to maintain in the laboratory.
Why are fruit flies often used in genetics experiments *?
Why fruit flies can be used as model organisms for human genetics?
Genetic manipulations are so much easier in fruit flies because they have a smaller genome which was fully sequenced in March 2000 2. Their short life cycle and large number of offspring are also advantageous for genetic research because new fly lines are quick and easy to make.
Why is the fruit fly important to science?
For more than 100 years, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has played a starring role in biomedical research, revealing fundamental principles of genetics and development, illuminating human health and disease and earning scientists six Nobel prizes to date.
How are fruit flies used in the development of disease therapies?
Thus fruit flies are an extremely powerful tool for the development of effective disease therapies. For an example of the use of Drosophila experimental evolution to produce genome-wide differentiation, see: Genome-wide analysis of a long-term evolution experiment with Drosophila. 2010.
What kind of gene does a fruit fly have?
Consider the Fruit Fly. Humans, it turns out, have versions of the hedgehog gene—three, in fact, derivatively named Indian hedgehog, desert hedgehog, and Sonic hedgehog. In fruit flies, the gene coordinates the body plan of the larva, which is manifested most clearly in the unusual shape of its cuticle when the gene is disrupted.
Why are fruit flies so long lived in Genescient?
One reason is that, due to their short lifespan, it is possible to evolve many generations of fruit flies in a relatively short time period. Genescient’s long-lived fly populations are the result of experimental evolution over 30 years, which represents about 800 standard generations of fruit flies.