A newly characterized calcium-activated chloride channel has been implicated in the immune system of Drosophila, shedding light on an enigmatic family of transmembrane proteins that are ubiquitous in nature.
Publication bias, in which positive results are preferentially reported by authors and published by journals, can restrict the visibility of evidence against false claims and allow such claims to be canonized inappropriately as facts.
After decades of intensive research, D. melanogaster and its relatives could provide important tools for investigating future biological questions about human health and environmental change, but only if we better understand their natural history.
We discuss the methods available to understand lncRNA function in vivo, and highlight important considerations that should be taken into account when designing such experiments.
To leverage the tools, resources and knowledge that exist for C. elegans so that we can study ecology, evolution and other aspects of biology, we need to understand the natural history of this important model organism.
A combination of genetic, anatomical and physiological techniques has revealed that the lateral horn, a region of the brain involved in olfaction in flies, has many more types of neurons than expected.
