?当暴露于大量酒精下时，果蝇也会像人类一样“喝醉”。这一结果也许能解释为什么有些人对酒精有基因学方面的依赖性。
??根据10月20日发表于刊物《Genome Biology》上的结果，人类和果蝇对酒精的反应在基因学水平上非常相似。研究人员表示，在果蝇中，暴露于酒精条件下时很多基因的表达被改变，一些基因的变化会对果蝇对酒精的敏感程度产生影响。同样这些变化在人类身上也发现过。因此作者表示，对果蝇Drosophila的研究能为人类对酒精反应的基因基础提供帮助，包括酗酒。
??美国North Carolina州立大学的Tatiana Morozova，Robert Anholt和Trudy Mackay分析了暴露于酒精后Drosophila基因活性的变化。通过测量基因表达的水平，他们比较了暴露于乙醇前后果蝇的基因表达。
??小组的研究结果表明暴露于乙醇中能改变果蝇某些基因的表达，他们发现了582个这样的基因，其中一些表达得到了促进，另一些则被抑制。对酒精耐受性强的果蝇促进和抑制的基因又不一样。这些基因包括脂肪酸代谢合成的基因。作者表示：“酒精对脂肪酸合成的影响在酗酒者体内也被发现过。在果蝇体内发现酒精诱导的与中间代谢和脂肪酸合成有关的酶非常有意思。”
??Morozova等人通过分析果蝇基因变化找到了影响酒精敏感度和耐受性的基因。他们发现这些基因的改变会对乙醇耐受性等有影响。
英文原文：
Human Alcohol Abuse: "Drunk" Fruit Flies Could Shed Light On Genetic Link
Fruit flies get "drunk," just like humans, when exposed to large amounts of alcohol and may in future help to explain why some people are genetically predisposed to alcohol abuse. Humans and fruit flies respond to alcohol in a very similar way at the gene level, according to a study published today in the open access journal Genome Biology. The researchers show that, in the fruit fly, the expression of many genes is modified by exposure to alcohol, and that mutations in some of these genes affect the flies' sensitivity to alcohol. Many of the genes analysed are also found in humans and the authors of the study conclude that studies in the fruit fly Drosophila could shed light on the genetic basis of human response to alcohol, including the susceptibility to alcohol abuse.
Tatiana Morozova, Robert Anholt and Trudy Mackay, from North Carolina State Univeristy, USA, analysed the activity of all Drosophila genes after exposure to alcohol. Using microarray analysis, a technique that enables to measure gene expression levels, they compared the gene expression levels in flies before they were exposed to ethanol, directly after exposure and two hours after exposure.
The results of Morozova et al.'s study show that one single exposure to ethanol is enough to modify the expression of some genes in the fruit fly. Morozova et al. identified a total of 582 genes whose expression is modified by exposure to ethanol. Some of these genes are down-regulated, while others are up-regulated, and a different set of genes is up-regulated as the flies become more tolerant to alcohol. Such genes include genes involved in biosynthesis and the regulation of fatty acid metabolism. "Alcohol-induced fatty acid biosynthesis is well documented in [human] heavy drinkers", write the authors. "The identification of multiple enzymes associated with intermediary metabolism and fatty acid biosynthesis in the response to alcohol exposure in Drosophila is, therefore, of particular interest."
Morozova et al. then identified genes that affect sensitivity or tolerance to alcohol, by analysing flies with mutated versions of the genes identified in the microarray experiment. They find that mutations in these genes can induce increased or reduced sensitivity to the effects of ethanol at first exposure, followed by increased or reduced tolerance. Morozova et al. find that the development of tolerance is only partly dependent on initial sensitivity to ethanol.
