Gene That Stops Flies Storing Body Fat Could Lead to New Treatments for Human Obesity, Study
Written on November 3, 2024 - 3:15 am | by admin
A team of scientists in Germany has discovered a previously unknown gene in fruit flies that controls the metabolism of fat and showed that flies that have a defect in this gene, which they call “schlank” (the German for slim or lean), lose the ability to store fat in their bodies: the scientists say this discovery may lead to new treatments for obesity in humans because mammals have a group of genes that are structurally very similar to “schlank”.
The discovery was the work of Professor Michael Hoch from the University of Bonn, and colleagues, and is published online in The EMBO Journal on 15 October.
A Drosophila fruit fly with a normal schlank gene builds up fat reserves. Continue training!