They appear on over-ripe fruit in kitchens, they swarm in thousands about the residue produced by the pressing of grapes or apples for wine. They nibble on marmalade and other preserves, and wherever vinegar is standing open, they are there.
But did you know that fruit flies (Drosophila hydei) and humans have a lot in common? Genetically speaking, people and fruit flies are surprisingly alike. According to biologist Sharmila Bhattacharya of NASA’s Ames Research Center “About 61% of known human disease genes have a recognizable match in the genetic code of fruit flies, and 50% of fly protein sequences have mammalian analogues.” So given the similarities between fruit flies and humans NASA are going to send fruit flies to the International Space Station to learn what space travel does to the genes of astronauts.
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4 Responses to The Fruit Fly in You
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Mina andra bloggar
Where do they come from?
Apparently the female lay her eggs in the soft tissue of fruit like in bananas just below the peal and there is where they hatch. They are prematurely hatched by heat and when the fruit is ripe. Yucky as hell!
Hm… Protein. It’s good for you.
Why is it that they seem to appear out of thin air? When there are no bananas around.
Maybe there’s something else ripe near by =) or something sweet, or maybe they just want to annoy you. Here are some helpful tips on how to annoy people
http://www.getannoyed.com/