Unknown numbers of science and medical students have used and abused the lowly fruit fly for any number of experiments and studies that couldn't have been much fun for the flies.
But a new study was aimed at seeing how much booze a fruit fly can virtually chug-a-lug before it, well, passes out, which could help figure out why some humans become alcoholics.
Scientists at North Carolina State University gained more genetic clues behind why some flies are more sensitive to alcohol than others are. Those findings might lead to more knowledge about alcoholism in humans.
Researchers genetically modified the flies to be either more or less sensitive to alcohol. They found that when sensitivity to alcohol changes that a number of genes in fruit flies undergo changes. Because many of those genes are similar to genes in humans those might be good genes to study to determine human predisposition to alcoholism.
The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse and was published in the November edition of Genome Biology.
