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Dec. 12th, 2003 01:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheScientists Find Drunkenness Gene in Worms
Researchers found a gene responsible for drunkenness in worms after plying thousands of the tiny creatures with booze, a discovery that could boost the fight against alcoholism.
[...] After six years of work on the project, [Dr. Steven] McIntire can now spot a soused worm about as well as a highway patrol trooper can spot a drunken driver.
He and the other scientists dosed hundreds of thousands of worms with enough alcohol that they would be too drunk to drive legally — if they were human with the same blood-to-alcohol levels.
The drunken worms moved slower and more awkwardly than sober ones, and laid fewer eggs. Teetotaler worms form a neat S shape to power propulsion while the bodies of drunken worms were straighter and less active.
Researchers found that the sober worms had the same mutated gene that appears to make them immune to alcohol's intoxicating effects.
Researchers found a gene responsible for drunkenness in worms after plying thousands of the tiny creatures with booze, a discovery that could boost the fight against alcoholism.
[...] After six years of work on the project, [Dr. Steven] McIntire can now spot a soused worm about as well as a highway patrol trooper can spot a drunken driver.
He and the other scientists dosed hundreds of thousands of worms with enough alcohol that they would be too drunk to drive legally — if they were human with the same blood-to-alcohol levels.
The drunken worms moved slower and more awkwardly than sober ones, and laid fewer eggs. Teetotaler worms form a neat S shape to power propulsion while the bodies of drunken worms were straighter and less active.
Researchers found that the sober worms had the same mutated gene that appears to make them immune to alcohol's intoxicating effects.
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Date: 2003-12-13 12:52 am (UTC)