title: Systematic genetic analysis of muscle morphogenesis and function in Drosophila.
abstract: Systematic genetic approaches have provided deep insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms that operate in simple unicellular organisms. For multicellular organisms, however, the pleiotropy of gene function has largely restricted such approaches to the study of early embryogenesis. With the availability of genome-wide transgenic RNA interference (RNAi) libraries in Drosophila, it is now possible to perform a systematic genetic dissection of any cell or tissue type at any stage of the lifespan. Here we apply these methods to define the genetic basis for formation and function of the Drosophila muscle. We identify a role in muscle for 2,785 genes, many of which we assign to specific functions in the organization of muscles, myofibrils or sarcomeres. Many of these genes are phylogenetically conserved, including genes implicated in mammalian sarcomere organization and human muscle diseases.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry, Am Klopferspitz 18, 82152 Martinsried, Germany. schnorrer@biochem.mpg.de
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schnorrer
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schönbauer
authors.forename: Christoph C H
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dietzl
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Novatchkova
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schernhuber
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fellner
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azaryan
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radolf
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: Krystyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keleman
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Dickson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology*; D017344:Genes, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D015698:Genomic Library; D007814:Larva; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000196:embryology; D034622:RNA Interference