Fruit Flies Used To Unlock Mysteries Of Human Diabetes

Stanford University Medical Center

For the first time, the tiny fruit fly can be used to study how mutations associated with the development of diabetes affect the production and secretion of the vital hormone insulin.

The advance is due to a new technique devised by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine that allows scientists to measure insulin levels in the insects with extremely high sensitivity and reproducibility.

The experimental model is likely to transform the field of diabetes research by bringing the staggering power of fruit fly genetics, honed over 100 years of research, to bear on the devastating condition that affects millions of Americans. Until now, scientists wishing to study the effect of specific mutations on insulin had to rely on the laborious, lengthy and expensive genetic engineering of laboratory mice or other mammals.

In contrast, tiny, short-lived fruit flies can be bred in dizzying combinations by the tens of thousands in just days or weeks in small flasks on a laboratory bench.

I normally avoid the term, but I think Dr. Parks new technique is a true breakthrough, said Seung Kim, MD, PhD, professor of developmental biology. Only in selected mammals can researchers measure insulin with this degree of sensitivity.

Kim, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is the senior author of the paper describing the research. Research associate Sangbin Park, PhD, is the lead author of the paper, which will be published Aug. 7 in PLOS Genetics. The power of a tiny model system

Insulin is an ancient molecule used by nearly all animals to regulate metabolism, growth and development. Diabetes in humans occurs when insulin-making cells in the pancreas fail to produce the hormone or when other cells in the body grow resistant to its effects. In 2002, Kim, his lab team and fellow Stanford researchers discovered that fruit flies develop a diabetes-like condition when their insulin-producing cells are destroyed.

Studies of diabetes in fruit flies represent a relatively new area of investigation, said Carl Thummel, PhD, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Thummel uses the insect to study energy metabolism and metabolic disorders.

Needless to say, fruit flies are very small, and only tiny amounts of blood can be extracted from their bodies, he said. Our inability to measure the amounts of circulating insulin has been a major drawback in the field. The technique developed by Dr. Kims group will allow researchers to rapidly test the effect of diabetes risk factors, and establishes fruit flies as an effective tool for studies of diabetes.

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Fruit Flies Used To Unlock Mysteries Of Human Diabetes