{"id":265897,"date":"2026-02-03T18:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T18:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/265897\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T18:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T18:41:12","slug":"why-fruit-fly-brains-might-one-day-help-humans-ward-off-alzheimers-and-parkinsons-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/265897\/","title":{"rendered":"Why fruit fly brains might one day help humans ward off Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NickyNicky Pellegrino<\/a><\/p>\n

Health writer\u00b7New Zealand Listener\u00b7<\/p>\n

3 Feb, 2026 05:15 PM4 mins to read<\/p>\n

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The common fruit fly’s brain is surprisingly similar to human ones. Photo \/ Getty Images. Illustration \/ Listener<\/p>\n

\n As unlikely as it may seem, fruit flies are becoming a powerful tool for helping us understand the complexities of the human brain. The common fruit fly has a surprisingly similar brain \u2013 although it is only the size of a poppy seed \u2013 and the processes involved in the
\n way it functions are similar too.\n <\/p>\n

A major scientific breakthrough came in 2024 when an international team managed to fully map the neural connections of the fruit fly brain. They produced a wiring diagram, known as a connectome, finding over 50 million connections between almost 140,000 neurons and paving the way to produce similar maps for larger species, eventually including humans. <\/p>\n

At Massey University\u2019s Palmerston North campus, researchers are using fruit flies to investigate a process in the brain that may contribute to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease and Parkinson\u2019s. <\/p>\n

\u201cFruit flies are actually a very good model for studying humans,\u201d says molecular biologist Helen Fitzsimons. \u201cWe can train them to learn something and test their memory. If we\u2019re interested in a particular set of genes or proteins we can turn those genes on and off or move the proteins and test how that affects their memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Massey scientists test a fruit fly\u2019s memory using a method known as courtship suppression assay, which harnesses the tiny insect\u2019s natural instincts. A male fly is paired with a female that is non-receptive because it has recently mated and so rejects the male\u2019s courtship. If the male fruit fly has learnt from and remembered this experience, the next time it encounters a non-receptive female it won\u2019t put as much effort into trying to mate with it.<\/p>\n

Research involving this technique has identified how disruptions in a protein known as HDAC4 (histone deacetylase 4) can lead to the formation of harmful clusters \u2013 or condensates \u2013 that interfere with healthy brain cell growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cHDAC4 is one of a group of proteins that is important for turning genes on and off,\u201d says Fitzsimons, who has worked in this field for more than a decade. \u201cLong-term memory involves turning certain genes on to help grow new synapses and make connections between the neurons stronger. We decided to focus on this family of proteins, turning them down or turning them off, and seeing what happened. HDAC4 was among the first we trialled and we found that when you turn it off the flies have impaired memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although HDAC4 is essential for brain health, excess amounts in the nucleus \u2013 the control centre of the cell \u2013 have been strongly linked to neuro-developmental disorders. Some studies of the post-mortem brains of people with Alzheimer\u2019s have found that the more severe the disease, the more HDAC4 is on the scene. It has also been implicated in Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know specifically what it\u2019s doing or know for sure that it\u2019s contributing to the symptoms, but the evidence we\u2019ve generated suggests it is because the more there is the worse the symptoms are,\u201d says Fitzsimons.<\/p>\n

One theory is that by sequestering other proteins into the clusters HDAC4 may stop them from doing their normal job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other interesting thing,\u201d says researcher Hannah Hawley, \u201cis that while in a lot of diseases clusters are static, these are really dynamic. They move around inside the cell and there are ways we can dissolve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with advanced microscopic techniques researchers can see the structures of a fruit fly brain and how the proteins are moving. They are even able to dissect the brains using very fine forceps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like peeling a mandarin with barbecue tongs,\u201d says Fitzsimons. \u201cIt takes quite a bit of practice to get good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If these toxic proteins do prove to be a factor in neurological disease, then in the future drugs might be developed or repurposed to restore the correct balance of HDAC4 inside the cell, or prevent it from binding and forming clusters. <\/p>\n

The next step, though, is to move on from fruit flies.\u201cWe hope to collaborate with other researchers,\u201d says Fitzsimons, \u201cand see if we can see the same thing happening in a rat, then test out whether we can disrupt these clusters and if that prevents memory loss or Alzheimer\u2019s disease symptoms.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Copy LinkEmailFacebookTwitter\/XLinkedInReddit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nicky Pellegrino Health writer\u00b7New Zealand Listener\u00b7 3 Feb, 2026 05:15 PM4 mins to read Subscribe to listenAccess to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[60698,8347,95,16717,1596,32635,8344,151598,5972,7191,66043,2679,2065,151600,134,5838,30538,16420,5962,2205,5978,111,139,69,6662,5270,2847,24830,90711,17216,49182,8258,27702,28702,18746,151599,6173,6305,37733,122,19791,4276],"class_list":["post-265897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-although","tag-alzheimers","tag-and","tag-becoming","tag-brain","tag-brains","tag-common","tag-complexities","tag-day","tag-disease","tag-flies","tag-fly","tag-fruit","tag-functions","tag-health","tag-help","tag-helping","tag-human","tag-humans","tag-involved","tag-might","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-off","tag-one","tag-only","tag-parkinsons","tag-poppy","tag-powerful","tag-processes","tag-seed","tag-seem","tag-similar","tag-size","tag-surprisingly","tag-too","tag-tool","tag-understand","tag-unlikely","tag-ward","tag-why"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}