Using Drosophila as a model insect.
The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has become such a popular model organism for studying human disease that it is often described as a little person with wings. This view has been strengthened with the sequencing of the Drosophila genome and the discovery that 60% of human disease genes have homologues in the fruit fly. In this review, I discuss the approach of using Drosophila not only as a model for metazoans in general but as a model insect in particular. Specifically, I discuss recent work on the use of Drosophila to study the transmission of disease by insect vectors and to investigate insecticide function and development.
Whitehead Institute, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA. dschneider@wi.mit.edu
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D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors; D023421:Models, Animal; D010572:Pest Control, Biological