Articles tagged Drosophila
(129 results)

Holes in the plasma membrane trigger the activation of the Torso receptor tyrosine kinase. As a general rule, cells don’t do well when holes are poked in their plasma membranes. That’s why many immune cells use enzymes like perforin to puncture the membranes of pathogenic cells, dysregulating and often killing them. However, a new report…

A fruit fly model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder reveals a Cyclin E-centric network modifies developmental sensitivity. Alcohol exposure in utero can lead to a wide range of developmental problems, even causing fetal death in some cases. But since this exposure doesn’t always have the same outcome, is it more likely to be a problem…

Bruce Stewart Baker—the geneticist whose work uncovered molecular mechanisms of Drosophila sex determination and dosage compensation—died unexpectedly on July 1, 2018. He was 72. Bruce Baker was born on Dec 20, 1945 to William K. (Bill) Baker—also a renowned Drosophila geneticist —and Margaret I. Stewart in Swananoa, NC, the site of the closest army hospital…

An automated drug screening approach gives insight into rare NGLY1 deficiency. Sometimes, diagnosing and treating an illness is straightforward. Other times, the diagnosis is challenging while the treatment is simple—or vice versa. In the case of a rare disease like NGLY1 Deficiency, both diagnosis and treatment can feel unreachable. The complex challenges of rare diseases…

New evidence for genome instability in fly tumors suggests key similarities—and differences—from human disease processes. Human cancers display a variety of abnormal genomic features, including increased numbers of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and copy number variants (CNVs). However, a 2014 study on a fruit fly tumor detected no elevation of SNVs or CNVs compared to non-tumor…

Offshoot of the modENCODE project provides crucial data and strains for understanding gene regulation. Following a multidisciplinary effort spanning six institutions, researchers working on the modERN (model organism Encyclopedia of Regulatory Networks) project have released a powerful resource for biologists studying the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. So far, report Kudron,…

A new fruit fly model of Leigh syndrome reveals the importance of mtDNA variation. Inherited mitochondrial disorders pose a perplexing problem to researchers and clinicians: people with the same condition can have vastly different clinical manifestations, even if they share the same mutation. For example, a neurodegenerative disorder called Leigh syndrome, which can be caused…

Photosensitive alternative splicing of a malt fly circadian clock gene varies between northern and southern populations. Over the course of a day, most organisms undergo profound changes. Over the course of a season, the changes can be even more dramatic. For example, insects’ responses to the brisk nights and cooler days of fall and winter…

The Y chromosome has an unanticipated role in sex-biased intron retention in Drosophila. Differences between males and females in sexually dimorphic species stem in part from disparities in gene expression. This sex-biased expression can be achieved through numerous means, one of which is alternative splicing. In a recent study, Wang et al. investigated differences in one…

Guest post by Thomas Kaufman in memory of Kathy Matthews. The original Drosophila Stock Center was housed at Cal Tech in Pasadena and was established by Calvin Bridges and Alfred Sturtevant—students of Thomas Hunt Morgan. On Morgan’s and Bridges’ deaths, the responsibility for the collection fell to Sturtevant, who subsequently passed it to his student…

Monomethylated H3K27 is more than just an intermediate. We often talk about biological traits as if they’re written in our DNA, but some of them aren’t in our DNA at all—instead, they’re on it in the form of chemical tags on the histone proteins our genomic DNA is wrapped around. During development, each cell’s genome…