Can Fruit Flies Glow in the Dark?

Fruit fly. Image from morguefile.
Question: How is a fruit fly like a firefly? No, this is not an obvious answer (their names start with the letter “f”) or the beginning of a bad entomology joke. These two organisms may both be winged insects, but as it turns out, what makes the firefly light show such a special treat on summer evenings is something that fruit flies, the bane of the kitchen in the summertime and annoyance for labs near Drosophila researchers, can mimic with a little help from a synthetic luciferin substrate as reported in PNAS. Continue reading “Can Fruit Flies Glow in the Dark?”