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Gene editing can make fruit flies into ‘monarch flies’

Only three molecular changes are needed for fruit flies to digest milkweed toxins

monarch butterfly and fruit fly

Monarch butterflies are immune to milkweed toxins, and thanks to gene editing, now some fruit flies are too — such as the one on this monarch’s wing.

copyright Julianne Palaez

By Tina Hesman Saey

Gene-edited fruit flies have gained some of monarch butterflies’ superpowers — specifically, the ability to digest milkweed toxins and become poisonous to predators.

Making just three genetic changes turned regular fruit flies into “monarch flies,” able to withstand plant toxins and store the chemicals as the flies transformed from maggots to adults, researchers report October 2 in Nature.