The contribution of Drosophila melanogaster as a invertebrate model in understanding basic aspects of biology is immense. This eventually led to many landmark findings, enabling us to unravel many biological puzzles and find cure for many human diseases. Thanks to the continuous efforts of many scientists and their co-workers, has helped in widening the scope of Drosophila research by linking it to different branches of science.
The contribution of tiny Drosophila towards the welfare of our society is rewarded by six Nobel prizes in “Physiology or Medicine” to 10 great minds from the field.
1933 : It started with the Pioneer of Drosophila research, Thomas Hunt Morgan in the year of 1933 for his work on chromosomes and heredity.
In Year of 1943 , Hermann Joseph Muller was awarded the coveted Nobel for his work on creating mutations using x-rays.
1995 – After a gap of almost 50 years, three eminent scientists shared Nobel for their contribution towards understanding genes involved in early embryonic development in Drosophila. Edward Lewis for his study related to Hox genes, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, and Eric F Wieschaus shared the Nobel for their landmark effort in deciphering many genes important for early embryonic development in flies.
2004 : Richard Axel received Nobel for his work in Olfaction. He is currently at HHMI, where he and his team seek to genetically and physiologically dissect the sensory coding of odors in Mouse and Drosophila.
2011: The efforts of Jules Hoffmann in developing Drosophila as a model to study immunity was recognized by awarding him with the coveted Nobel prize.
2017 : Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, Michael W. Young were awarded Nobel prize for their work towards unraveling molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.
Reference
Droso4schools – An excellent resource for learning everything related to fly work.