Repository files navigation

• Organism A: Fruit Flies
• Organism B: Homo Sapiens

• Drosophila melanogaster
• Drosophila simulans
• Drosophila sechellia
• Drosophila yakuba
• Drosophila erecta
• Drosophila ananassae
• Drosophila suzukii
• Drosophila teissieri

• Adh (Alcohol dehydrogenase)
• ADH1B (Alcohol dehydrogenase, prefered name: "All-trans-retinol dehydrogenase")

Comparing the Alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene of the Drosophila family withthe Homo sapien's ADH1B gene, which is associated with alcohol intolerance,seems an interesting combination and further investigation of it can provide aunique opportunity to gain insights into the evolutionary history ofalcohol metabolism and the genetic basis of alcohol-related traits in diverseorganisms.

In humans, mutations in theAlcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1B) gene have beenassociated with a number of health problems, including alcohol intolerance,flushing (redness and warmth of the skin after drinking alcohol) and anincreased risk of alcoholism. However, these conditions are relatively rare andare usually caused by specific genetic variants of the Adh gene.

The Adh gene is present in fruit flies and other organisms. We are interestedin finding out how this gene varies in fruit flies, what variations andsimilarities there are, in order to carry out an experimental study and thus beable to treat diseases caused by mutations in this gene.

The human ADH1B gene is an orthologue of the Drosophila melanogaster alcoholdehydrogenase (Adh) gene.They derive from a common ancestral gene and have evolved to perform similarfunctions in those species. In this case, the human ADH1B gene and theDrosophila melanogaster Adh gene encode enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism.

It should be noted that although the function of the human ADH1B and Drosophilamelanogaster Adh genes is similar, the specific mutations and regulatoryregions of these genes may differ between the two species, resulting indifferences in the expression and activity of these genes. This is exactly whatwe would like to exploit with our project.

The Adh gene in different species of fruit flies will have variations in itsgenetic sequence, but the overall function of the gene will remain the same,i.e. the gene will be responsible for breaking down alcohol and will thereforehave a conserved domain.

Mutations in the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene can lead to changes in theactivity and stability of the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme. This can lead toalcohol intolerance and an increased risk of alcoholism in some individuals.

Specific variants in the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene have beenassociated with alcohol intolerance in humans, such as ADH1Balcohol dehydrogenase (prefered name is "all-trans-retinol dehydrogenase").

This variant result in reduced activity of the Adh enzyme, leading to abuild-up of acetaldehyde, a toxic intermediate product of alcohol metabolism,in the body. This build-up causes the symptoms of alcohol intolerance, such asflushing (redness and warmth of the skin after drinking alcohol), tachycardia,nausea and headache.

(NOTE: It is important to note that not all people carrying these variants willdevelop alcohol intolerance. Other factors such as general health, diet and thepresence of other genes that affect alcohol metabolism may also play a role.)

The results of the alignment of the Alcohol dehydrogenase gene from differentDrosophila species against the ADH1B gene from Homo sapiens show that theidentity percentage ranges from 34.55% to 38.75%, with the highest identityfound in Drosophila simulans and the lowest in Drosophila ananassae.

These results indicate that although they have the same function, alcohol metabolism,their structure is not comparable, resulting in these low scores.In addition, to be sure, we performed a phylogenetic tree to measure the degree ofdifferences between species.The result was that the human gene is far removed from Drosophila. This reaffirms theresults of the alignment study.

This indicates that the Alcohol dehydrogenase gene has evolved differently in eachof these species. Although the gene product is the only mostly preserved across theDrosophila species studied.

However, more research is needed to determine whether the differences in the Alcoholdehydrogenase gene affect alcohol metabolism in Drosophila and if thesedifferences could be used to develop treatments for alcohol intolerancesickness.

Overall, the results of this study provide important insights intothe evolution and function of Alcohol dehydrogenase gene in differentDrosophila species, and may have implications for understanding the geneticbasis of alcohol metabolism in humans.

• Drosophila melanogaster ADH gene

• Drosophila melanogaster ADH gene orthologs(Note: the human ADH1B2 is not listed here, because it is a variant of it, which is orthologous too.)

• Orthologous gene in human is ADH1B