title: Drosophila as a screening tool to study human neurodegenerative diseases.
abstract: In an aging society, research involving neurodegenerative disorders is of paramount importance. Over the past few years, research on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases has made tremendous progress. Experimental studies, however, rely mostly on transgenic animal models, preferentially using mice. Although experiments on mice have enormous advantages, they also have some inherent limitations, some of which can be overcome by the use of Drosophila melanogaster as an experimental animal. Among the major advantages of using the fly is its small genome, which can also be modified very easily. The fact that its genome lends itself to diverse alterations (e. g. mutagenesis, transposons) has made the fly a useful organism to perform large-scale and genome-wide screening approaches. This has opened up an entirely new field of experimental research aiming to elucidate genetic interactions and screen for modifiers of disease processes in vivo. Here, we provide a brief overview of how flies can be used to analyze molecular mechanisms underlying human neurodegenerative diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Center, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lenz
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Karsten
authors.forename: Jörg B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Voigt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006801:Humans; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017956:Photoreceptor Cells, Invertebrate / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Drosophila melanogaster; Parkinson's disease; gene regulation; mutagenesis; neurodegenerative diseases