Quirky Fruit Fly Gene Could Point Way to New Cancer Drugs

ScienceDaily (June 14, 2012) – Loyola researchers are taking advantage of a quirk in the evolution of fruit fly genes to help develop new weapons against cancer.

A newly discovered fruit fly gene is a simplified counterpart of two complex human genes that play important roles in the development of cancer and some birth defects. As this fruit fly gene evolved, it split in two. This split has made it easier to study, and the resulting insights could prove useful in developing new cancer drugs.

“Evolution has given us a gift,” said Andrew K. Dingwall, PhD, senior author of a paper that describes how his team identified and analyzed the split gene. Their findings are published in the June issue of the  journal Development.

When normal cells develop, they differentiate into particular types, such as bone cells or muscle cells, and reproduce in an orderly manner. The process is governed by genes and hormones that work in concert. Two of these genes are known as MLL2 and MLL3. Cancer cells, by contrast, undergo uncontrolled division and reproduction.

Since 2010, a growing number of cancers have been linked to mutations in the MLL2 and MLL3 genes. These cancers include non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer and a brain tumor called medulloblastoma. There also is evidence that MLL2 and MLL3 mutations are involved in breast and prostate cancers.

The MLL2 and MLL3 genes are similar to one another. Each has more than 15,000 building blocks called base pairs — more than 10 times the number found in a typical gene. Because these genes are so large and complex, they are difficult to study.

In the fruit fly, the counterpart gene to MLL2 and MLL3 split into two genes named TRR and CMI. Each carried information critical for normal gene regulation, and they wound up on different chromosomes. The parsing of the MLL2/MLL3 genetic information into smaller genes in the fruit fly made study of the gene functions much easier; it allowed the researchers unprecedented opportunities to explore the role the human genes play in the development of cancers.

“This fruit fly gene gives us unique insight into the massive human MLL2 and MLL3 genes that are almost impossible to study because they are so large,” Dingwall said.

Dingwall’s team studied the function of the fruit fly gene by inducing various mutations and then observing the effects on the flies. This will lead to better understanding of what goes wrong when mutations in MLL2 and MLL3 genes trigger the uncontrolled reproduction of cancer cells in humans. This in turn could help researchers develop drugs that would redirect cancer cells to differentiate into normal cells, Dingwall said.

The study was funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Dingwall is an associate professor in the Oncology Institute and Department of Pathology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Co-authors are Claudia Zraly, PhD (joint first author and senior co-author); Chhavi Chauhan (joint first author); Megan Parilla; and Manuel Diaz, MD.

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FARMINGTON, Maine — A destructive Asian fruit fly has found its way to Maine, causing concern for this year’s berry crop.

David Pike of Farmington plans to order traps with a gooey substance to set around his local strawberry fields this coming season.

He plans to keep a close eye out for the male Drosophila suzukii fly known for its spotted-wings, he said Friday. It could be a matter of looking for one fruit fly out of thousands.

They are the same size as the fruit vinegar fly, the ones that feed on overripe bananas, but unlike those flies, this Asian variety is interested in ripening not rotting fruit.

The difference is the spotted-wing flies have saw-like appendages that allows them to cut into the soft skin of ripening fruit and lay their eggs inside where they hatch, Jim Dill, University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator and pest management specialist in Orono, said.

The potential damage to Maine blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and other soft-skinned fruits and maybe some vegetables could be devastating.

The fruit fly was found this past September in Berwick, Limington, Newcastle, Monmouth and Farmington after traps were set at various sites around the state. Extension and pest management researchers are scrambling this winter to come up with a management plan for this summer.

First seen in California in 2008, the Asian fruit fly has made its way across the country in just four years. It may have come into Maine on the winds of Tropical Storm Irene in August, Dill said.

The fruit fly doesn’t winter well in cold states, with Michigan reporting infestations in both 2010 and 2011 but it was later in the season. They were found in small numbers in July and built up through September.

If it’s late enough before the flies get really active, most of Maine’s crops may well be harvested, but fall strawberries and raspberries could be at risk.

“Our biggest concern is the low bush blueberry,” Dill said. “With 50,000 acres — it would be disastrous, just devastating to our current Integrated Pest Management program and the crop. It’s a question of when.”

Maine’s blueberry harvest in 2011 exceeded 80 million pounds. Crop value is estimated at about $190 million, with a statewide economic impact of more than $250 million, according to a University of Maine release.

Pesticide sprays can control the adult flies but are costly and need to be done weekly.

“We’re looking to see if there are any natural controls for it,” he said. “We’ve been working for years to try to reduce applying pesticides.”

The Asian fruit fly can multiply as quickly as the fruit flies around bananas. A female can lay 3 to 4 eggs in a fruit or up to 300 during its life cycle, a matter of only eight to 10 days, he said.

The eggs develop into tiny worms, or maggots, in the fruit which turns mushy fast once picked, he said. Refrigeration stops the progression of the insect but many think the flavor is enhanced if it’s not refrigerated.

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Fruit fly intestine may help put breaks on aging

Washington, Nov 3 (ANI): The intestines of fruit fly may hold secret to to the fountain of youth and serve as a target for drugs or other therapies to put the breaks on aging and age-related diseases, a new study has suggested.

Scientists at the Salk institute of Biological Studies have found that modifying a gene known as PGC-1, which is also found in human DNA, in the intestinal stem cells of the fruit fly delayed the aging of their intestines and extended their lifespan by as much as 50 percent.

“Fruit fly and humans have a lot more in common than most people think,” Newswise quoted Leanne Jones, a lead scientist on the project as saying.

“There is a tremendous amount of similarity between a human small intestine and the fruit fly intestine,” she said.

Jones and her colleagues used genetic engineering techniques to boost the activity of the fruit fly equivalent of the PCG-1 gene.

They found that boosting the activity of dPGC-1, the fruit fly version of the gene, resulted in greater numbers of mitochondria and more energy-production in fly – the same phenomenon seen in organisms on calorie restricted diets.

When the activity of the gene was accelerated in stem and progenitor cells of the intestine, which serve to replenish intestinal tissues, these cellular changes correspond with better health and longer lifespan.

The flies lived between 20 to 50 percent longer, depending on the method and extent to which the activity of the gene was altered.

“Their intestines were beautiful,” Christopher L. Koehler, a doctoral-student at University of California San Diego who conducts research in Jones’ laboratory, said.

“The flies with the modified gene activity were much more active and robust than the other flies,” he added.

The study has been published online in Cell Metabolism. (ANI)

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Fruit flies have done more good than Sarah Palin

While running for vice-president of the U.S., Sarah Palin made a speech in which she mocked research involving fruit flies, saying it has little or nothing to do with public good. Three years later, fruit flies – and the scientists who study them – have done far more good than she has.

The French biologist Jules Hoffmann’s research using drosophila won a Canada Gairdner Award last week for work that has revolutionized the understanding of the immune system, by discovering the main keys to its activation. He also won part of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

“When I first started working on insects, I realized that they do not suffer from infections and wondered why that was so,” he told the Gairdner Foundation. “And so we hoped that from that we would learn something about human immunity.”

The fundamental question behind the research was why insects are able to destroy one-third of the world’s crops. That led to new insights into the defence mechanisms that organisms – including human beings – use against infectious agents.

“We believe strongly in evolution, so we were sure that anything from an ancient group would be conserved in a more recent group, like mammals, and will teach us the basics of the immune system,” said Dr. Hoffmann. “So I was very excited – and lucky – to make these discoveries.”

As a result, there are now a range of clinical trials concerning cancer immunotherapy, allergies, autoimmune diseases and septic shock. These could lead to more effective vaccines to counteract cancer and to treat bacterial and viral infections.

“Basic research,” said Michael Hayden, himself a Gairdner winner and director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the Child and Family Research Institute in Vancouver, “leads us to ideas that can be further developed for innovation that can have major implications that you can’t always see.”

While funding sources increasingly favour targeted research, it is important to remember that basic research can produce great results, even when these are unexpected.

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Scent Of Rotten Fruit Signals Sex, At Least For Fruit Flies

If you’re into sexual chemistry, set an aging banana peel or apple core out on your kitchen counter, pull up a chair, and wait — for the fruit flies.

If you are squeamish about the fruit you eat, you may want to stop reading here. Otherwise, here’s the skinny about fruit flies: They like to mate ON fruit. Or whatever else that’s on the fruit-fly version of the nutrition pyramid (or whatever geometric thingie the USDA is shoving its food groups into nowadays). Editor’s Note: Chris, it’s a plate. Try to keep up.

Scientists certainly knew about the fruit fly’s mating rituals. But now they think they know why they’re into fruit so much. It’s the smell.

 

Female fruit flies produce pheromones — biochemicals that affect behavior in lots of insects and animals too — to attract males. But researchers have discovered that the brain circuits in male fruit flies that detect the female’s come-hither chemical are activated FIRST by aromatic chemicals in fruit. (OK, if you have to know, it’s phenylacetic acid and phenylacetaldehyde in the fruit.)

Why is this? Well, usually there’s some good reason for complicated animal or insect behavior (unlike most human behavior, I’m afraid). In this case, researchers led by Richard Benton at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, say it’s to the fruit flies advantage to mate where they eat. It offers an immediate and beneficial place to lay eggs. They’re born in a horn of plenty.

People have been known to use food as an aphrodisiac, too. Food won over Albert Finney in the movie Tom Jones, and cast a spell on an entire family in Like Water For Chocolate.

If you want to read more about fly love and the importance of food, you can read all about it in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

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A woman who flew into Wellington from an Asian country this month has been fined $400 after fruit fly eggs and maggots were found in plants she tried to smuggle in.

The species of fruit fly had yet to be identified, but the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) said the Mediterranean fruit fly was one of the world’s most destructive fruit pests.

New Zealand did not have fruit fly and did not want it, a ministry spokesperson said.

Mediterranean fruit fly would have serious consequences for New Zealand’s horticultural industry, MAF said.

In key fruit-growing regions it could have a significant effect on the economy, with potential job losses and eradication costing millions.

If it became established, trading partners could suspend horticultural imports from New Zealand.

In 1996, China banned New Zealand fruit imports for a year after fruit fly was found in Auckland.

“The finding of fruit flies brought in by an incoming traveller who did not declare plant material is of particular concern, because this insect could do so much damage here,” MAF acting deputy director general for verification and systems Andrew Coleman said.

When the woman arrived on July 4 fruit fly eggs and maggots were found in the plants she had not declared.

A Christchurch laboratory confirmed it was fruit fly and was doing DNA testing to determine the species and where they are from.

Three days later in Auckland a sniffer dog at the international mail centre found nine dead bats in a parcel from North America.

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