Question

A goal of using animal models is to explain the molecular detail of specific behaviors encoded in the human brain. How would you compare the developmental biology experiments on memory and learning using the fruit fly, drosophila melanogaster, as evidence about the evolution of a human behavior?

Answer 1

Answer:

It is possible to compare the expression of homologous genes in the brain of D. melanoganster and humans, because the expression levels of conserved genes may be associated with the evolution of cognitive features such as complex learning and memory.  

Explanation:

Model organisms can be used to understand the patterns and processes that affect human evolution. Drosophila melanogaster is a model organism that has been used to study expression patterns of conserved genes in the course of evolution. This model organism has also been used to develop genetic mutant lines in order to examine the role of genes evolutionarily conserved in animals, including those involved in neurocognitive development.

In genetic research, an experiment as the above described is framed in a research field named 'Behavioral Genetics', which is a discipline that studies how evolutionarily conserved gene networks may be associated with neurocognitive tasks during brain evolution.