Fed: Wino worms show mutant alcohol tolerance

AAP General News (Australia)
12-16-2003
Fed: Wino worms show mutant alcohol tolerance

Mutant worms may hold the key to why some drinkers can booze all night without a slur
or stumble yet others disgrace themselves after just a few.

Researchers in the United States have studied hundreds of inebriated worms to find
out why people behave differently when they get drunk.

Most of the inebriated worms wiggled less, moved more slowly and laid fewer eggs before
falling into a state of profound sedation.

However, the University of California team found some of them remained sober even after
soaking up the equivalent of the human drink-driving blood alcohol limit.

The researchers discovered the more tolerant worms carry a mutated gene that renders
them immune to the intoxicating effects of alcohol.

In their findings, published in this month's Cell journal, the team claims the discovery
could be used to develop a new treatment for alcoholism.

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KEYWORD: WORMS (SYDNEY)

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