Dr. Romero's team was able to find a gene that encodes a protein that transports oxalate into the fly kidney which leads to kidney stones. Oxlata is also the cause of kidney stone formation in human. When the gene for that protein was modiefied, the fruit flies got fewer kidney stones. This shows that study of kidney stones in fruit flies can one day lead to treatments in humans.
Dr. Romero and his colleagues are now using this gene as a target for possible drug development. Following is a link to a video on kidney stone formation in Drosophila Fruit flies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FKAEii-rHsM
Discovering the protein that transports oxalate into the kidney is a great medical breakthrough. This discovery can help decline or avoid the presence of kidney stones in humans. The treatment of kidney stones in humans still needs to be researched, but this experiment is a great start to finding the solution to kidney stones.
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