Story Summary: Larvae in which this gene is defective lose their entire fat reserves. Therefore the researchers called the gene schlank (German for slim). With the fruit fly Drosophila there is a rather paradox convention. Together with Dr. Reinhard Bauer and other employees the development biologist has explored what exactly schlank does. Ceramides serve as raw materials for the gauzy membranes that enclose all of the cells in the body. It promotes lipid synthesis and at the same time inhibits the mobilisation of fat from the fat reserves. Humans also produce ceramide synthases however not just one as Drosophila does but rather as many as six different ones. For this purpose humans rely on a group of genes so-called Lass genes. This resemblance is so striking that Lass genes from mice can partially compensate for the defect schlank gene in mutant flies. We introduced a mouse Lass gene in mutant Drosophilalarvae, Michael Hoch says. Thanks to the Lass gene they resumed building up body fat and survived until the next development stage. But due to the strong parallels with schlank we think such a function is very probable, Professor Hoch presumes. Story Source:Adapted from materials provided by . Journal Reference:Bauer et al. schlank, a member of the ceramide synthase family controls growth and body fat in Drosophila….Read the Full Story

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