Zars’ Perspective Article in Science Receives National Attention
March 19, 2012 COLUMBIA, Mo. – After being deprived of sex, male
fruit flies, known as Drosophila melanogaster, may turn to
alcohol to fulfill a physiological demand for a reward,
according to a study published in the 16 March 2012 issue of
Science magazine by Galit Shohat-Ophir and colleagues . Troy
Zars, associate professor of biological sciences, said that
understanding why rejected male flies find solace in ethanol
could help treat human addictions. “Identifying the molecular
and genetic mechanisms controlling the demand for reward in
fruit flies could potentially influence our understanding of
drug and alcohol abuse in humans, since previous studies have
detailed similarities between signaling pathways in fruit flies
and mammals,” Zars said in an associated Perspective article
that appeared in the same issue of Science. In the study, male
fruit flies that had mated repeatedly for several days showed no
preference for alcohol-spiked food. On