Scientists have known for years the key to unlocking some of mankind's deadliest illnesses is the study of genetics. What they haven't always known is that the answers might not be revealed in the genes of humans, but in the genes of a fruitfly.\nFor 10 years, IU scientists have played an integral role contributing to the research.\n"Seventy-five percent of all disease-causing genes in humans have a homologue, or comparable gene, in fruitflies," said Thomas Kaufman, a distinguished professor of biology and senior fellow at the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology. "Since we can observe processes much faster and much easier in fruitflies, we can compare that to what we could observe in humans."
FlyBase\nIU's primary contribution is a project called FlyBase, a Web accessible database that includes information about the genetic and molecular structures of various species of fruitflies. \nFounded 10 years ago, FlyBase is a joint effort, combining research from scientists at IU, Harvard, the University of Cambridge (UK), and the University of California at Berkeley. FlyBase is supported by the National Institutes of Health and its server is located in Jordan Hall. The data is available to the public and is easily accessible.\n"FlyBase is not really research, but a database that contains nearly everything known about fruitflies," Kaufman said.\nKaufman is a co-principle investigator in the FlyBase project. Those involved with the project gather information on fruitflies and add it to the database -- all of which is important to the human genome project.\nThe University stores more than 8,000 mutant lines of fruitflies, each with a different mutation similar to natural ones found in humans.\nThe human genome project hopes to use the information collected from its research to improve scientists' understanding of human diseases.\nIts goals include identifying the nearly 30,000 different genes in the human DNA strand, finding the entire sequence of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up DNA, and eventually storing the information in databases similar to FlyBase.\nScientists say a gene database for humans could be used for mapping diseases such as cancer and alcoholism.
Mapping of the human genome\nIn the mapping of the human genome, two separate organizations have contributed. In 1990 the Department of Energy and NIH began a public investigation, making their results available on the Internet. Celera Genomics Group, a subsidiary of Applera Corporation, has led a separate investigation. Their findings are available to paying customers.\n"The mapping of the human genome is not complete," said Peter Cherbas, a biology professor and senior fellow at the Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology. "We only have a draft sequence and there are still many gaps. Research comparison is very important."\nThe sharing of information across the Web has drastically increased scientists' comprehension of both the fruitfly and human genomes, Kaufman said. \n"There was no World Wide Web when FlyBase began," he said. "Scientists couldn't simply send information to each other."
For more information on FlyBase, visit www.bio.indiana.edu.
