Learning from the common fruit fly: Professor Julian Dow

Issued: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:40:00 BST

Drosophila melanogaster, otherwise known as the common fruit fly, currently serves two chief purposes for Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology Julian Dow. Firstly, the fly, seemingly unperturbed by the presence of kidney stones in its renal tubule, presents a simple model for examining what is an excruciatingly painful condition in humans. Secondly, it allows the study of the insects’ osmoregulation (how the organisms keep their fluids from becoming too diluted or too concentrated). Upsetting this process could be the key to creating a new breed of insecticides.

‘The fruit fly’s version of a kidney is only a millimetre in length but is straightforward to study as it’s transparent and easily accessible,’ says Professor Dow. ‘We can manipulate the tubule genetically, which lets us model certain human diseases much more easily, cheaply and, I think, with better ethical consequences than in a mammal. We can mimic both rare and common kidney stones, and make them occur more easily or less often.’

The occurrence of kidney stones continues to rise. If you have kidney stones once, there’s a 50% likelihood of developing them again. Identifying a suitable animal model is a significant step towards being able to screen treatments that might prevent new kidney stones from forming.

One of the University’s strengths is the new technologies available to the research team. The latest technique, metabolomics, gives a snapshot of all the small molecules produced by cells at any one time, and can help to shed light on the metabolic imbalance that causes stones. Glasgow is also at the forefront of insect physiology – alongside his biomedical research Professor Dow is studying Drosophila as a model insect for insecticide development.

‘Globally, 20% of the world’s crops are lost to insect attack, and more than a million people die from malaria each year,’ explains Professor Dow. ‘Bluetongue virus and Schmallenberg virus remind us that with global warming a lot of problems are headed for the UK. No new insecticides have come to market in decades and there’s now resistance in the field to every available insecticide.

‘Agrochemical companies focus on poisons that attack the central nervous system, but a new class of insecticide that interferes with an insect’s ability to osmoregulate would be equally effective. We’re trying to uncover what it is that harmful insects have in common that good insects don’t also share so that we can make the next generation of insecticides greener.’