About Careers Internship MedBlog Contact us
Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Advertisement

Fruit Flies Use Alcohol to Protect Eggs from Wasps

by Kathy Jones on February 25, 2013 at 6:51 PM
Font : A-A+

 Fruit Flies Use Alcohol to Protect Eggs from Wasps

A new study reveals that fruit flies make use of alcohol to protect their eggs from parasitic wasps as they lay their eggs in a booze-soaked environment.

"The adult flies actually anticipate an infection risk to their children, and then they medicate them by depositing them in alcohol," Todd Schlenke, the evolutionary geneticist whose lab did the research, said.

Advertisement

"We found that this medicating behavior was shared by diverse fly species, adding to the evidence that using toxins in the environment to medicate offspring may be common across the animal kingdom," he said.

Adult fruit flies detect the wasps by sight, and appear to have much better vision than previously realized, he added.

"Our data indicate that the flies can visually distinguish the relatively small morphological differences between male and female wasps, and between different species of wasps," he said.
Advertisement

The experiments were led by Balint Zacsoh, who recently graduated from Emory with a degree in biology and still works in the Schlenke lab. The team also included Emory graduate student Zachary Lynch and postdoc Nathan Mortimer.

The larvae of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, eat the rot, or fungi and bacteria, that grows on overripe, fermenting fruit. They have evolved a certain amount of resistance to the toxic effects of the alcohol levels in their natural habitat, which can range up to 15 percent.

Tiny, endoparasitoid wasps are major killers of fruit flies. The wasps inject their eggs inside the fruit fly larvae, along with venom that aims to suppress their hosts' cellular immune response.

If the flies fail to kill the wasp egg, a wasp larva hatches inside the fruit fly larva and begins to eat its host from the inside out.

Last year, the Schlenke lab published a study showing how fruit fly larvae infected with wasps prefer to eat food high in alcohol.

This behavior greatly improves the survival rate of the fruit flies because they have evolved high tolerance of the toxic effects of the alcohol, but the wasps have not.

"The fruit fly larvae raise their blood alcohol levels, so that the wasps living in their blood will suffer," Schlenke said.

"When you think of an immune system, you usually think of blood cells and immune proteins, but behavior can also be a big part of an organism's immune defense," he said.

The findings are published in the journal Science.

Source: ANI
Advertisement

Advertisement
Advertisement

Recommended Readings

Latest Environmental Health

Beating Plastic Pollution: A Mind-Set for a Greener Future
Plastic pollution: Indus river carries the second highest amount of plastic debris to the sea.
Union Minister's Wake-Up Call: The Lingering Peril of Pandemics
Enhancing the One Health-based surveillance system, Union Minister Bharati Pravin Pawar highlights the continuous peril of pandemics.
Unprecedented Insights: Illuminating Primate Evolution, Human Health, and Biodiversity
Researchers have conducted extensive studies on primate genomes, providing crucial findings on evolution, human disease, and biodiversity conservation.
Crossing the Line: Humanity's Perilous Journey on Earth
Study highlights that humanity has surpassed seven out of the nine designated "safe limits" indispensable for upholding life on Earth.
Airborne Pollutants That Cause Cancer Effect Filter by Indoor Plants
The Ambius small green wall, which contains a variety of indoor plants, was shown to be quite successful at removing hazardous, cancer-causing pollutants.
View All
This site uses cookies to deliver our services.By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of Use  Ok, Got it. Close
×

Fruit Flies Use Alcohol to Protect Eggs from Wasps Personalised Printable Document (PDF)

Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested

You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends.

Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice.

Name *

Email Address *

Country *

Areas of Interests