The fruit fly ("Drosophila melanogaster") is an ideal subject for studying inheritance patterns, Mendel's laws, meiosis, Punnett squares, and other aspects of genetics. Much of what we know about genetics dates to evolutionary biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan's work with mutated fruit flies in the early 1900s. Many genetic laboratories…

Describes a current research study which is attempting to identify autism susceptibility loci by a systematic screening of the whole human genome by using multiplex families. It reviews the resources and methods used in the study including extensive collection of family data, semiautomated genotyping technology, and specialized statistical…