Evolutionary changes in cuticular hydrocarbons, a lipid layer on the insect epicuticle, underlie the evolution of desiccation resistance in Drosophila species.

Gene expression timing during Drosophila development is specified by multiple classes of RNA polymerase II core promoters, and the embryonic transcriptome includes thousands of evolutionarily conserved long noncoding RNAs.

The growth of wild Drosophila larvae on fruits is promoted by a yeast releasing essential nutrients extracellularly or by a stable association with a nutrient-providing bacterium established by microbe–microbe interactions.

Reactive oxygen species, previously considered damaging agents linked to pathology, are required for normal neuronal plasticity, including adjustment of synaptic terminal size, maintenance of synaptic physiology and adaptive behavioural responses.

Proteolysis of lipidated N-terminal peptides that tether Hedgehog morphogens to the surface of source cells is absolutely required for their coupled release and bioactivation in vivo in Drosophila melanogaster.

Dissection of a cis-regulatory element (CRM) in its native chromosomal context using CRISPR/Cas9 editing and novel 'Active Genetics' reveals new features of CRM function and insights into how such regulatory elements change during evolution.

One hundred one high-quality drosophilid genomes are released, along with low-cost assembly workflows, as an open community resource for studying genetics, ecology, and evolution in this important model system.

During Drosophila primordial germ cells (PGCs) specification, the centrosome and germplasm are subject to regulation, during the maternal zygotic transition, by Caspar/TER94-dependent degradative pathways that influence PGC determinants.

In naturalistic conditions, larvae of the Drosophila group exhibit species-specific strategies to search for food resources through a primitive form of risk-taking behavior that is controlled by a tradeoff between exploitation and odor-driven exploration.

A functional genetics approach reveals a novel role for odorant binding proteins in post-mating processes, with complex mechanisms of evolutionary change across closely related insect species.