Why Fruit Flies?
Exodus 8:21-22
“Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.”
“Truth flies like an arrow,” quipped the radio host, “but fruit flies like a banana.” I am reminded of this silly joke when I look at the fruit bowl on our dining room table, which sometimes seems to attract examples of Drosophila melanogaster – the common fruit fly.
Perhaps no type of animal has been used more in biological research than the fruit fly. Certain biological processes such as reproduction or genetic replication are similar in most eukaryote organisms, so observing these in fruit flies might, unlikely as it may seem, have implications for how the processes work in humans. The great volume of academic research which uses the fruit fly as the subject can be seen by the fact that, to date, eight Nobel Prizes have been awarded to work involving drosophila.
There are several reasons why fruit flies make useful research subjects. From the moment a fruit fly egg has been laid to the moment the adult dies is, on average, about 50 days. The adult flies can mate and lay eggs after just 10 days. This means that three generations can have been studied in a month. A year would yield 36 generations. The effects of inherited genetic problems or defects can, therefore, be analyzed within months, as can the probabilities of genetic problems being inherited by future generations.
It is notable that, thousands of generations later, laboratory fruit flies have not evolved “upwards”. At all times, they remain part of the fruit fly baramin.
Prayer: We know, Lord, that all genuine scientific research will never find anything that is not consistent with Your word. Thank You, Lord, that Your word speaks the truth. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vinegar Fly, < https://www.britannica.com/animal/vinegar-fly >, accessed 10/1/2019.
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