In a historic first, scientists have used gene editing to induce virgin birth in fruit flies, a major step in unlocking the mysteries of the intriguing phenomenon known as parthenogenesis.
Virgin births do not happen naturally in the type of fruit flies involved in the research, said study coauthor Alexis Sperling, a developmental biologist at the UK’s University of Cambridge. However, Sperling and her team were able to use gene mutations to produce generations of female fruit flies capable of reproducing entirely on their own — without interacting with male fruit flies, according to a study published July 28 in the journal Current Biology.
The researchers used fruit flies because they’re considered “model organisms,” meaning the flies are among a list of organisms that scientists have long studied in depth to gain a better fundamental understanding of biology. Fruit flies’ short life spans of about 80 days have made it easy to observe changes throughout generations relatively quickly. And prior research into fruit flies is so extensive it’s possible to order genetic mutations for some flies online.
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