Thursday, October 30, 2008

Drosophila Diseases


I spent a couple of hours today counting flies, so here's a cool article about them:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn15082-malekilling-bacteria-provide-a-surprise-benefit-.html?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news3_head_dn15082

Summary:
A bacteria known for its sex-regulation abilities has been found to confer protection against viruses in Drosophila. In some species, the bacteria ensures that infected and non-infected and non-infected flies cannot make viable young.

Implications:
Speciation?
Cool bacteria like that in humans? (Bacteria are pretty important in several of body systems).
A good excuse for having all your flies die in BioLab. Bonus points if anybody can type that fly.

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