Researchers led by Ulrike Heberlein of the University of California at San Francisco found that only fruit flies that carried a working "hangover" gene developed alcohol tolerance, needing more and more alcohol in order to become intoxicated.

The findings illustrate the potential for developing medications to prevent addiction, the authors said. "If humans have a gene that has a function similar to that of 'hangover,' we could interfere with the function of such a gene," said Herberlein.

The gene is believed to help the body respond to environmental stress; flies lacking the gene responded more poorly to heat and the presence of damaging free radicals.

The study was published in the Aug. 11, 2005 issue of the journal Nature.

Scholz H., Franz M., and Heberlein U. (2005) The hangover gene defines a stress pathway required for ethanol tolerance development. Nature, 436(7052), 845-847.

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