Fruit flies can get anxious and drunk too, at least judging by behavioral similarities with people. Even the effects of anti-anxiety drugs seem similar.
Since they multiply so quickly, their brains are so small, and their genes can be manipulated so readily, they make an attractive model to study the biology of alcohol use and anxiety disorders in people. That is especially important since alcohol use disorder is said to affect as many as 6% and anxiety disorders 14-20% of US adults in a 12-month period. And differences in people’s likelihood of developing either disorder leads to interest in inherited traits that might lead to these disorders.
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