Fruit Flies, Drosophila melanogaster, are easily the best understood multicellular organism on the planet. Why do we know so much about Drosophila? Who decided to start studying this fly? And why do we keep investing time and money to fruit fly studies?
Drosophila and humans share over 60% of our DNA, and about 75% of known human disease genes have a match in the DNA of fruit flies. Meaning, most human diseases can be studied using fruit flies. Drosophila is currently being used as a genetic model for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease, aging, oxidative stress, immunity, diabetes, and cancer, as well as drug abuse. Yes, we study all that (and a lot more) in this tiny (under 3 millimeter long) fruit fly.
To look at why biologists started studying Drosophila we have to go back over 100 years ago to the Fly Room at Columbia University, and the experiments of Thomas Hunt Morgan. To see how we study Fruit Flies, you just need to look at all the Nobel Prizes awarded to scientists who made it their life's work to study with this fly.
You probably studied fruit flies in biology at some point in your life, but most likely are not sure why biologists make such a big deal out of this tiny little insect. Listen now to find out why we know so much about Drosophila and why we keep studying the fruit fly.
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