Expression of mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} under the control of Scer\GAL4^αTub84B.PL or Scer\GAL4^da.G32 results in a significantly reduced rate of hatching. These flies exhibit defects in eclosion when they are transferred from 25[o]C to 29[o]C. These flies exhibit dramatic pre-adult lethality at 29[o]C. All mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} progenies display crinkled, vestigial wings compared to the smooth morphology for the wild-type flies. These mutants also display hypersensitivity to oxidative stress.

Flies expressing mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} under the control of Scer\GAL4^da.G32 at 29[o]C exhibit a significantly reduced life span compared to control lines. mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS}/Scer\GAL4^da.G32 flies, on average, live for 22 days at 29[o]C compared to 55 days in wild-type flies, a reduction of 60% in life span. The pre-adult lethality of mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} flies appears to be temperature-dependent as flies hatched at 25[o]C, but switched to 29[o]C at L1 live as long as wild-type flies reared at 29[o]C throughout. In contrast, mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} flies hatched at 29[o]C that are transferred to 25[o]C at L1 do almost as poorly as flies hatched and grown at 29[o]C.

Expression of mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS} under the control of Scer\GAL4^da.G32 leads to 80% lethality when flies are exposed to paraquat for 24 hours.

The ratio of mitochondrial to cytosolic aconitase activity in mol^{dsRNA.Scer\UAS}/Scer\GAL4^da.G32 mutant flies is reduced to approximately half of that obtained for control flies, suggesting diminished mitochondrial function caused by mol depletion.