Mar. 13, 2000 Washington, D.C. -- Next time you spot motionless
fruit flies, consider this: The inert insects may be dozing, and
their nap-time biochemistry could someday offer clues to sleep
disorders and mechanisms in humans, researchers report in the
March 10 issue of Science. The common fruit fly, Drosophila
melanogaster, seems to undergo behavioral and molecular changes
similar to those observed among mammals, says lead Science
author Paul J. Shaw of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego,
California. Like human sleep, a fly's beauty rest can be altered
by caffeine or antihistamines, for example, and sleep
deprivation prompts it to overcompensate by catching a few extra
winks. Most importantly, the Science authors say, the fruit fly
seems to share several molecular markers believed to modulate
sleep and waking in mammals. Of particular interest was an
enzyme that regulates levels of neurotransmitters called
monoamines, at least in rats. In humans, sleep may be important
for breaking down and lowering b