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Developmental biology

Our fly cousins' gut

What do we humans have in common with flies? Quite a lot, at least at the cellular and molecular levels. Our intestine, for instance, is similar to that of the fly, not only in function but also in its development and maintenance.

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Figure 1: Similarities between the fly hindgut and a mammalian intestinal crypt.

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Pitsouli, C., Perrimon, N. Our fly cousins' gut. Nature 454, 592–593 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/454592a

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