Hard-drinking fruit flies have helped U.S. and German scientists uncover a gene that may shed light on humans’ tolerance to alcohol.The gene -- named hangover by its discoverers -- is part of a genetic pathway that enables the flies to deal with increasing amounts of alcohol, according to researchers.They also believe this mechanism can lead to alcohol dependence and addiction.The finding may be important because “identifying the genes you inherit that relate to your tolerance to alcohol helps us understand how genes set you up for a vulnerability to alcoholism,” said Dr. James Garbutt, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina.Garbutt was not involved in the study, which was led by Ulrike Heberlein, an associate professor of anatomy at the University of California at San Francisco. Her team’s report appears in the Aug. 11 issue of Nature.
