Fruit Fly Genetics

Fruit flies (Drosophila Melanogaster – Figure 1) have been a model system for research on all levels of biology. Their small size, relatively cheap pricing, and short lifespans make them easy to care for and breed. More importantly, the fruit fly genome is completely sequenced, with 77% of searched human genetic disease genes matching 548 unique drosophila gene sequences (Reiter et al., 2001). This relationship between the genome of fruit flies and that of humans ensures fruit flies are important tools for elucidating an understanding on a range of human afflictions, including serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease (Greenspan and Dierick, 2004). With such a rich genome, the fruit fly offers hope to thousands of people suffering from epigenetic conditions, and may even move on too more. Today, the fruit fly is being used in studies of insomnia, and someday could help people get a better sleep at night. …show more content…
While some studies illustrate insomnia stems from depression and anxiety (Taylor et al., 2005), others focus on epigenetic mechanisms (Palagini, Biber, and Riemann, 2014). Recent molecular studies have identified specific genes that greatly affect the circadian and homeostatic mechanisms that regulate sleep, with studies in flies demonstrating that the fruit fly shares the most fundamental features of mammalian sleep (Cirelli, 2009). This observation, coupled with research using a line of flies that were engineered to express phenotypes similar to human insomnia(Figure 2), provides insight into both the cause and long term consequences of insomnia (Seugnet et al.,