Unlocking the Genome Sequence of the Fruit Fly

The Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine has been chosen by the National Human Genome Research Institute as the sole laboratory to sequence the genome of the fruit fly species, Drosophila pseudoobscura. The center, directed by Dr. Richard Gibbs, has received a $5 million grant to complete the project next year.

This is the second fruit fly species to have its genome sequenced. Over the past three years, Baylor’s center has collaborated with researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and Celera Genomics to sequence the first fruit fly species, Drosophila melano-gaster. Their work shows that 66 percent of disease genes found in humans are similar to genes in the fruit fly.

"The pseudoobscura sequence will greatly expand the utility of Drosophila as a model organism," said Dr. Gibbs. "The fruit fly is already a powerful tool for studying human disease. Although the human is much more complex, the fruit fly shares many of the same genes and biochemical pathways."

For more than a century, the fruit fly has been a classic laboratory model for understanding genetics. Because the fruit fly can reproduce every two to three weeks, it is ideal for studying genetic variation. Fruit flies are relatively inexpensive to study, and have biological complexities similar to mammals.

"The second fruit fly will teach us much about biodiversity and evolution through comparative genomics," said Dr. George Weinstock, co-director of the Baylor center. "Comparing genomes reveals features of biological importance that at present can only be recognized by their conservation among different organisms."

The project will use the "whole genome shotgun sequencing" method with the sequence assembly software developed to decipher the rat genome, another ongoing project at the center. The Baylor center has worked with other institutions in sequencing the genomes of man, rat, Drosophila melanogaster, and slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum, as well as early phases of the collaborative mouse genome project.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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