Articles tagged Drosophila
(129 results)

Don’t miss out on this year’s Annual Drosophila Research Conference; check out the fantastic lineup of invited speakers below! The conference will be held April 11–15, 2018 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, covering a diversity of topics, from genetics, to molecular biology, cell biology, development, immunology, physiology, neuroscience, evolution, and more. As well as the…

Take a deep dive into the latest topics in our field over lunch at the 59th Annual Drosophila Research Conference. Each discussion at the Community, Connections, & Lunch event will be moderated by established and up-and-coming community leaders, who will explore the latest scientific findings, such as presentations from the conference and hot topics in…

GSA is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Victoria Finnerty Undergraduate Travel Award. This award, which honors the memory of Victoria Finnerty, supports travel costs for undergraduates engaged in research to attend the 59th Annual Drosophila Research Conference. Congratulations, undergrads! We’ll see you in Philadelphia. Leah Anderson The Ohio State University “I’m studying the binding properties…

Fruit fly mutants can sometimes be grisly. Ecdysteroid hormones control aspects of fly development, including molting and metamorphosis; because aberrations in these genes lead to embryos with a ghastly appearance, they have been collectively dubbed “Halloween genes.” In a study published in GENETICS, Uryu et al. investigated how the expression of these genes is regulated.…

Whether it’s a battle over territory or a brawl over a sports game, aggressive behavior is a hallmark of the animal kingdom. The influence genetics has on aggression is undeniable—but the process of determining the genes involved has been frustratingly slow. To better understand genetic factors involved in aggression, some researchers have turned to male…

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce that Professor Mariana Wolfner of the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell University is the recipient of the 2018 Genetics Society of America Medal for her work on reproduction. Wolfner and her colleagues have identified proteins in the seminal fluid of fruit flies…

When a noni fruit ripens, it stinks like old cheese—or even vomit. Familiar to many in the form of expensive juices sold as health supplements, this pungent fruit is engaged in a slow-motion arms race with would-be insect pests. Fruit flies are unable to feast on noni—scientific name Morinda citrifolia—because the fruit is dosed with…

As night fell, astronomer Jean Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan watched a plant’s leaves, symmetrically arranged side-by-side on a stem, clamp shut. It was 1729, and he was studying the dramatic nocturnal movement of Mimosa pudica. Strangely, he found that the plant behaved the same way even when it wasn’t exposed to natural cycles of light…

The unassuming fruit fly has paved the way for another big scientific win: on October 2nd, the Nobel Assembly awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of the molecular mechanisms behind circadian rhythms. These biologists have spent their careers studying…

In the 1940s, C. H. Waddington discovered a peculiar phenomenon in fruit flies: traits could appear in response to environmental stress in an individual’s lifetime and then be passed down to future generations. Waddington proposed that this wasn’t the inheritance of acquired traits, but actually due to pre-existing genetic variation that had no effect until…

Guest post by Pamela K. Mulligan and Susanne M. Gollin. Robert C. King, Professor of genetics at Northwestern University for over four decades and a pioneer in studies of Drosophila oogenesis, passed away on June 25th. He was 89. Among scientists in the field, Bob (as he was generally known) was recognized as a world-renowned geneticist,…