«This paper takes advantage of
modern molecular biology and genetic approaches to test some of those hypotheses,» said University of Nebraska - Lincoln biologist Kristi L. Montooth, a
fruit fly expert who co-authored the new study.
It was accomplished by two biologists at UC San Diego working on the
fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster who employed a new genomic technology to change how mutations could spread through a population — a concept long established in plants by the father of
modern genetics, Gregor Mendel.