Mutant Fruit Flies Have Genetic Resistance to Alcohol

Give them a little booze, and fruit flies get rowdy. After too much alcohol, they’ll stagger and, eventually, pass out. But for a select few flies, alcohol’s effects are much weaker. Now, scientists have identified the genetic mutation responsible for this difference.The new fruit fly research, published with a corroborating mouse study in the Oct. 6 issue of the journal Cell, may pave the way for the future development of drug targets to treat human addictions.Read more at...Seed, November 2006.