Genome labours bear fruit | Nature

You have full access to this article via your institution. Download PDF Approximately 100 years ago now, the fruit fly _Drosophila_ was first bred at Harvard for use in laboratory research.

These stocks led to experiments establishing many early tenets of classical genetics. Hard-core _Drosophila_ researchers can even trace their own 'pedigree' based on their

relationship to Thomas Hunt Morgan, the father of fruit-fly genetics. In 2007, _Drosophila_ is one the most Internet-savvy laboratory organisms, with extensive databases devoted to genetics,

genomics, taxonomy, breeding and mail ordering. Several Nobel Prizes have been based in part or in total on work in flies. Flies have even been sent on the space shuttle to study immune

system function. The genome of the most familiar species, _Drosophila melanogaster_, was the test case for 'whole-genome shotgun sequencing', which opened the doors to the era of

organismal genome sequencing. The community has not rested on these laurels, and now marries the pre-eminent position of the fly in evolutionary biology with cutting-edge genomics by

studying 12 completed _Drosophila_ genomes at once. _Nature_ is honoured to publish two Articles detailing the sequence and analysis, allowing the description of 'evolutionary

signatures' on functional elements throughout the genomes. To capture the scope of this achievement and celebrate the fruit fly as a model organism in basic research, we have also asked

researchers to explore the past, present and future of _Drosophila_ in many diverse areas of biology — from physiology and cell biology to neural circuits and gene expression. Size

doesn't matter: these tiny fruit flies are once again poised to take on the world. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Chris Gunter, Senior Editor, Chris Gunter * Francesca

Cesari, Associate Editor, Francesca Cesari * Deepa Nath, Senior Editor, Deepa Nath * I-Han Chou, Senior Editor, I-Han Chou * Alex Eccleston, Senior Editor, Alex Eccleston * Ritu Dhand, Chief

Biology Editor, Ritu Dhand Authors * Chris Gunter View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Francesca Cesari View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Deepa Nath View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * I-Han Chou View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Alex Eccleston View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ritu Dhand View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Gunter, C., Cesari, F., Nath, D.

_et al._ Genome labours bear fruit. _Nature_ 450, 183 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450183a Download citation * Published: 07 November 2007 * Issue Date: 08 November 2007 * DOI:

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