title: The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster unfolds the secrets of innate immunity.
abstract: In 2011, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was rewarded, in part, for research on the Drosophila immune response. The research described the role of the Drosophila Toll receptor in antifungal resistance, and the subsequent characterization of Toll-like receptors in mammals reshaped our understanding of the immune system. This review summarizes the potential of the Drosophila model and describes the path that has lead Drosophila to become an important model to study immunity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Drosophila melanogaster has been one of the most fruitful models to study innate immunity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tampere University Hospital, Institute of Biomedical Technology and BioMediTech, University of Tampere, Finland. mika.ramet@uta.ﬁ
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rämet
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000276:immunology*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D023421:Models, Animal; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009613:Nobel Prize; D010827:Physiology / Q000266:history; D034622:RNA Interference / Q000276:immunology; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000276:immunology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C557617:GAL4 protein, Drosophila; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; D014157:Transcription Factors