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UNM researchers can now manipulate specific muscles in fruit flies, which may lead to the ability to manipulate human muscles in the future.
About two years ago, a group of researchers from the biology department explored fruit fly muscle identity and found that fibers in fruit fly flight and jump muscles can be converted into different kinds of muscle. Researchers were able to manipulate the muscles by using genes to convert muscles from one type to another.
UNM professor and Biology Department Chair Richard Cripps said muscle identity research will allow researchers to better understand fly gene networking. He said the information may be used to benefit other organisms, including human beings.
Cripps said the project is a basic study of developmental biology, which could allow researchers to better understand human development.
“The project is based upon trying to understand how a cell decides to be one type of muscle versus another,” he said.
Cripps said that research began after a genetic screening about genes that control the flies’ flight muscles. He said the screening showed that muscle fibers could be genetically altered to take on the actions of other muscles.
Research assistant professor Anton Bryantsev said that although flies and humans are different, their molecular mechanisms have similar processes and because fruit flies have fewer genes than humans, they are much easier to work with.
“Flies are our favorite genetic models,” he said. “They’re easy to work with and they have a 100-year-old history of genetic research.”
The project, which includes a 15-person team consisting of research professionals, post-doctorate researchers and graduate and undergraduate students, was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The NIH granted $800,000 for the project.
Bryantsev said that because the funding came from the NIH, is it expected that the research will one day generate practical applications for human beings. He said the research may help researchers better understand muscle diseases in humans and learn how to treat those diseases.
“We already know that there are human versions of these genes,” he said. “It will be interesting to see if these genes play a role in human muscle development.”
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But Bryantsev said further development and human application of the research may take years to accomplish. He said that the process is more complicated with humans because human genes can’t be manipulated as easily.
“You can’t really conduct genetic crosses, and you can’t sacrifice thousands of humans for the sake of science,” he said. “So of course it’s a slow process.”
UNM graduate student and research assistant Tonya Brunetti said she wanted to understand more about human development after she graduated with a degree in molecular genetic developmental biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She said she began working at the research lab three years ago, after she found information about Cripps’ research through a Google search.
“He was actually looking to do many things that I was interested in,” she said. “I was really interested in human disease interactions and looking at a model organism and applying that to a human.”
UNM graduate student and staff research scientist TyAnna Lovato said she advocates volunteering in a lab because it helped her realize that she wanted to pursue a career in scientific research.
She said she began working at the lab after she struggled to understand experimental techniques in a developmental biology class.
“The professor let me come to the lab so I could have a better understanding,” she said. “I began to volunteer there and it ended up turning into a job.”
Cripps said that as research continues, he hopes to explore things that have not been previously examined. He said that even though that the researchers have uncovered new information, their work is not done.
“We think that there is an important genetic network that is waiting to be discovered,” he said. “And we are already working on identifying other genes that function in this process.”
