Author: Ary Hoffmann, Professor, School of BioSciences and Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne

The common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), more correctly called the vinegar fly, is a frequent visitor to ripe fruit in households around the world, where it often deposits eggs on rotting flesh without being noticed. We have probably all consumed different body parts of fruit flies – without any known ill effects. But the fruit fly is much more than an annoying house guest. In fact, Drosophila melanogaster has been one of the most important species for science for more than a century. Were it not for these flies, some of the most significant scientific discoveries might never have been…