Publication highlights

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London have revealed differences in the development, positioning, and ongoing maintenance of organs between male and female Drosophila flies that have consequences for healthy organ function. The researchers acquired 3D scans of many thousands of flies using a microCT scanner and outlined a complex dialogue between the gut and its vessels, that actively keep the gut looped in adult animals, and also leads to different shaped guts in males and females. Using genetic techniques, they relaxed the shape of the gut, and made female flies with a male gut shape. These flies had a reduced ability to produce offspring. The researchers believe that changing gut shape or position might interfere with the messages the intestine exchanges with other organs like the gonads. They are now applying the methods they have developed in flies to human MRI scans, to quantify the 3D features of our own intestinal tract.