Proteins are the executive agents that carry out all processes in a cell. Their activity is controlled and modified with the help of small chemical tags that can be dynamically added to and removed from the protein.

A team of University of Oregon biologists, using fruit flies, has created a way to isolate RNA from specific cells, opening a new window on how gene expression drives normal development and disease-causing breakdowns.

You may never hear fruit flies snore, but rest assured that when you're asleep they are too. According to research published in the January 2009 issue of the journal GENETICS, scientists from the University of Missouri-Kansas City have shown that the circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycles) of fruit flies and vertebrates are regulated by some of the same "cellular machinery" as that of humans.

Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia scientists turn back clock on evolution in fruit fly to provide key insights into basic mechanisms of evolution

No matter the species, from flies to humans, we all start the same: a single-cell fertilized egg that embarks on an incredible journey. The specifics of this journey are being uncovered at Rutgers University–Camden, where a biologist is researching how from one cell a jumble of many are able to organize and communicate, allowing life to spring forth.

If chromosomes snuggle up too closely at the wrong times, the results can be genetic disaster.

Johns Hopkins researchers have used fruit flies to gain new insights into a brain-damaging disorder afflicting children. Their work suggests a possible therapy for the disease, for which there is currently no treatment.

In a novel study appearing this week in Neuron, Brandeis researchers identify for the first time a specific set of wake-promoting neurons in fruit flies that are analogous to cells in the much more complex sleep circuit in humans. The study demonstrates that in flies, as in mammals, the sleep circuit is intimately linked to the circadian clock and that the brain's strategies to govern sleep are evolutionarily ancient.

A Salmonella infection is not a positive experience. However, by infecting the common laboratory fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster with a Salmonella strain known for causing humans intestinal grief, researchers in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University have shed light on some key cell regulatory processes – with broad implications for understanding embryonic development, immune function and congenital diseases in humans.

When it comes to embryo formation in the lowly fruit fly, a little molecular messiness actually leads to enhanced developmental precision, according to a study in the Oct. 14 Developmental Cell from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

Vinegar flies (Drosophila melanogaster) show a highly selective behavior towards odor stimuli. A series of behavioral studies showed that a single olfactory stimulus is often not sufficient for immediate attraction to potential food sources or oviposition sites. Interestingly, the behavior differed between investigated D. melanogaster varieties, so-called "wildtypes".

New research identifies a few critical neurons that initiate sex-specific behaviors in fruit flies and, when masculinized, can elicit male-typical courtship behaviors from females.