![]() ![]() Just forget a banana on the counter and a few days later: poof! A cloud of flies! Photo: Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández sur Unsplash. You’ll understand that the reasons scientists like them… are in fact the reasons we don’t like them. So, if we do genetic testing, we can have three different generations… in only one month! And up to 25 in one year! Quite convenient if you want to see genetic repercussions in the descendants. In addition, it lays about 500 eggs in its lifetime, up to 35 per day: enough to never run out of guinea pigs! It’s also easy to have several generations since the reproductive cycle is only 10 days. The Link Between Frankenstein and Tomatoesĭrosophila is small, lives about 30 days, and costs almost nothing to maintain, which makes it a good laboratory subject. The fly on the left is normal and the one on the right has two thorax and therefore two more wings. So, drosophila, annoying in the kitchen, but still heroes in their own way, right? This fly has legs instead of antennas. Strange as it may seem, these laboratory experiments have led to the understanding of several genetic concepts useful in today’s medicine. In order to achieve these results, individuals worthy of horror movies were “created” by activating or deactivating certain genes. Several insights into the immune system, embryo development and chemical resistance have been gained from the Drosophila. Knowing that more than 75% of the genes involved in human diseases are also present in this species, it is a very good start to understand how they work and, eventually, to try to cure the diseases they cause. It is one of the few animals whose genome is completely known: each of the 13,000 or so genes of this fly is known to scientists and we know what they do. They have been used as models in laboratories since the 1900s. Uses in the LaboratoryĪlso known as fruit flies, Drosophila have a very important role in science, especially in the study of genetics. Rather than tell you how annoying they are in the home, I want to explain why drosophila are actually useful – even superheroes – to humans. Have you ever gotten one up your nose? I have… I wouldn’t recommend it! And there it is, in the nose, the Drosophila melanogaster! Photo: Botaurus. You know: they’re tiny and you don’t see them until you move the fruit dish, then a cloud flies over. You’ve probably come across those annoying little flies in your kitchen. ![]()
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