MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences is looking forward to the return of fruit flies from the International Space Station (ISS) to check them for possible mutations.
"This is the first space flight of fruit flies that has lasted for so long. We are unable to say how many fruit flies are in orbit and how many fruit fly generations have changed since then," Experiment Polygen holder and institute employee Olga Larina told Interfax-AVN.
Two or three generations of fruit flies might have changed since the arrival of the Progress cargo spaceship to the ISS in April, she said.
Fruit flies, which reproduce rapidly and have a DNA pattern similar to the human one, are being used to study the negative effects of a space flight, primarily space radiation, on genetic and individual mutations.
Two containers of fruit flies were sent to the ISS. There were 50 fruit fly slugs in the first container from a genetic line that laboratories have been monitoring for 80 years. The second container had 20 fruit fly slugs from fruit flies caught in the Volgograd area. The second fruit fly colony was stronger.
When the fruit flies return to the Earth, they will be compared with the control group at the institute to detect possible mutations.
The fruit fly containers will return from the ISS onboard the Soyuz TMA-20 spaceship on Tuesday.