What Mutant Flies Can Teach Us About Autoimmune Disorders

UArizona News

From founding the field of genetics research to unraveling the mysteries of disease, using fruit flies as a model organism has made a big impact on our understanding of human biology and more recently, may prove to hold an important piece of the autoimmune disease puzzle. Using genetic mapping and other techniques, the team led by Dr. Todd Schlenke discovered there are two required mutations involved in the flies' apparent autoimmunity and how the flies distinguishes their own tissues from those of pathogens.