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Pakistan’s fly genome revolutionizes medical science
KARACHI, Pakistan Biologists have sequenced the first genome draft of any insect in Pakistan, a tiny fly utilized for medical research in thousands of labs worldwide.
A group of researchers led by Dr Mushtaq Hussain at the “Fly Research Lab and Stock Center” in the College of Biotechnology at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) created mutant Drosophila of Pakistani origin. At the same time, another team analyzed the genome of the modest creature.
Drosophila melanogaster is a common fruit fly known as the “Cinderella of Genetics” because it shares 60% genetic similarities with humans and 75% disease-related genes.
These characteristics make the small fly an ideal lab model for future research on human diseases and testing novel medications.
More than 500 human diseases have been successfully modeled in the small fly.
For almost a century, Drosophila has helped us understand inheritance, genes, chromosomes, developmental patterns, immunity, physiological processes, population genetics, and evolution, as well as serving as an experimental model for human illness research. It’s also known as “human with wings.”
The tiny fly has enabled various Drosophilists (researchers who study Drosophila) to win six Nobel Prizes, three in the past and three in this century!
The Dow Fly Research Lab and Stock Center recently published the first complete genome draft of Drosophila of Pakistani provenance.
Anusha Amanullah, then a postgraduate student, observed a mutant fly that differed from average (wildtype) Drosophila in September 2021 while working under the guidance of Dr Mushtaq Hussain.
Variants developed at the ‘Fly Research Lab and Stock Center’ in the DUHS College of Biotechnology ranged from white eyes to curled wings.
Anusha examined the fly without its main feature, the large, bright red eyes. She initially believed it was a creepy creature without a head squirming in the bottle. But she quickly recognized that it had white eyes because the mutant lacked regular red eyes.
Anusha Amanullah carefully picked the fly and bred it in various combinations to evaluate whether the genetic relationship with a trait is substantial. The Eureka moment occurred in the third generation when she created various male and female, white-eyed flies.
So, that was the first mutant fly created in Pakistan.
Professor Hussain then created a separate line or breed of Drosophila and named it ANU-1 after its discoverer, Anusha.
Later, Dow University of Health Sciences granted her a fully financed PhD scholarship to pursue her research at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine.
“The availability of whole genome draft of the native Drosophila melanogaster opens a new horizon concerning modeling human diseases in indigenous fruit fly breeds within Pakistan by employing conventional and modern gene editing tools,” Anusha Amanullah said.
Anusha transferred the study baton to other scientists to further investigate the new Pakistani mutant’s genetic makeup.
Under Prof. Hussain’s guidance, Iffat Waqar, a postgraduate, and Sukaina Arshad, a BS final-year research student, sequenced and generated the entire draft of the ANU-1 genome in 2023.
Researchers at DUHS ‘Fly Research Lab and Stock Center’ are working on different fruit fly variants.
After nearly six months of arduous work, the scientists employed cutting-edge “HISeq platform of Next Generation Sequencing” to decipher the fly genome.
The genome draft was then submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology (NCBI) in the United States for assessment. It was recently evaluated and made available on the website under the Bioproject ID PRJNA1017144.
Several years of research have placed Pakistan on the map of Drosophila discoveries. It is a Pakistani insect’s first complete genome draft, much alone the fruit fly.
Iffat and Sukaina also discovered many genetic variants that had not been reported before in any Drosophila genome anywhere in the world.
The White Eye Drosophila is a popular low-cost model for studying brain and neurodegeneration in big labs. The fly is far less expensive than other pricey mammalian animals or lab rats.
This elevated the fly to the status of an economic commodity, with numerous enterprises profiting handsomely from the sale of the modest fly.
The Bloomington Fly Stock Center in the United States is the largest provider of standard and mutant flies.
The Center sells about 4000 fly breeds or lines every week for almost $100 per pair of flies.
The Pakistani fly has considerable commercial value as well.
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