The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has been a model organism for over one hundred years to study genetics and developmental biology. Countless researchers work with it, and an impressively large amount of data has been accumulated thanks this work. It has been a successful model organism for many reasons. It is small, has a simple and easily produced diet, and has a short life cycle which allows many generations to be produced in a short period of time. There are mutants available for a large number of genes, and new mutations can be induced very easily. It also has a small, compact genome of only 165 million base pairs in length, containing about 14,000 genes. One of the most interesting things about D. melanogaster is that it has orthologs to about 62% of human disease genes allowing it to serve as model for the study of many biomedical processes.
Justin Rosenthal received his undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2011 in the Biological Sciences, with a concentration in neurobiology/physiology. Upon beginning his PhD. Program here, Justin began investigating the role of a particular gene, darkener of apricot(Doa), in promoting neuron survival through the pupal stage of insect life, i.e. metamorphosis. Building upon previous research, it became ever more convincing that without this gene certain neurons within a Drosophila’s brain will not survive until adulthood. Currently he is working out the purpose of specific exons and isoforms of this gene, as several variations exist. Further research will likely include expansion of this investigation into other non-nervous tissue. Overall this information will provide a molecular model for how cell death, especially in neurons, proceeds.