Rab GTPase Gal4 Kit. Breaking Report.

The Gal4 expression 'kit' reported in this paper could be useful not only for studying Rab GTPases but also for Gal4-UAS mediated stage- or tissue-specific expression of other genes or reagents.

Jin EJ, Chan CC, Agi E, Cherry S, Hanacik E, Buszczak M, Hiesinger PR. Similarities of Drosophila rab GTPases Based on Expression Profiling: Completion and Analysis of the rab-Gal4 Kit. PLoS One. 2012;7(7):e40912. Epub 2012 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 22844416.

According to the introduction of the paper, Rab GTPases or related factors have been implicated in at least the following: Griscelli Syndrome and Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, both of which are associated with albinism, as well as Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2B Disease, Warburg Micro Syndrome (also known by the abbreviation WARBM and as Warburg Sjo Fledelius Syndrome or simply Micro Syndrome), and X-linked mental retardation.

Related resource: UAS-Rab fly stocks at the BDSC. As described in Zhang J, Schulze KL, Hiesinger PR, Suyama K, Wang S, Fish M, Acar M, Hoskins RA, Bellen HJ, Scott MP. Thirty-one flavors of Drosophila rab proteins. Genetics. 2007 Jun;176(2):1307-22. Epub 2007 Apr 3. PubMed PMID: 17409086; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1894592.

Galactosemia stocks at the BDSC

The Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center has added a Galactosemia page to their Drosophila and Human Disease website.  The list of available stocks includes these recently acquired lines from Judy Fridovich-Keil [generated in Sanders et al., 2010, UDP-galactose 4' epimerase (GALE) is essential for development of Drosophila melanogaster. Dis Model Mech. 3:628 PubMed ID 20519568].

37738    w[*]; wg[Sp-1]/CyO; Gale[Deltay]/TM6B, Tb[1]
strong loss of function allele

37739    Gale[h]/TM6B, Tb[1]
hypomorphic allele (weaker than Gale[Deltay]

37740    w[*]; P{UAS-hGALE.S}32A/CyO; TM2/TM6B, Tb[1]
expresses human UDP-galactose 4' epimerase under UAS control

Go to the BDSC's Galactosemia Page.

miRNAs & Cancer. Breaking Report.

Herranz H, Hong X, Hung NT, Voorhoeve PM, Cohen SM. Oncogenic cooperation between SOCS family proteins and EGFR identified using a Drosophila epithelial transformation model. Genes Dev. 2012 Jul 15;26(14):1602-11. PubMed PMID: 22802531

Huntington's Disease proteomics study. Breaking Report.

A Drosophila Huntington's disease model was used for follow-up studies as described in this report on a proteomics study related to Huntington's disease.

Shirasaki DI, Greiner ER, Al-Ramahi I, Gray M, Boontheung P, Geschwind DH, Botas J, Coppola G, Horvath S, Loo JA, Yang XW. Network organization of the huntingtin proteomic interactome in Mammalian brain. Neuron. 2012 Jul 12;75(1):41-57. PubMed PMID: 22794259.

Related resources:  Check out BDSC's page on Huntington disease-related fly stocks.

Microphthalmia. Fly gene knowledge informs disease understanding. Breaking report.

Aldahmesh MA, Mohammed JY, Al-Hazzaa S, Alkuraya FS. Homozygous null mutation in ODZ3 causes microphthalmia in humans. Genet Med. 2012 Jul 5. doi:10.1038/gim.2012.71. PubMed PMID: 22766609.

Relevant genes include:  Ten-m (a.k.a. odz) FBgn0004449

Effect of L-ascorbic acid on Parkinson's model flies. Breaking report.

Khan S, Jyoti S, Naz F, Shakya B, Xx R, Afzal M, Siddique YH. Effect of L-ascorbic acid on the climbing ability and protein levels in the brain of Drosophila model of Parkinson's disease. Int J Neurosci. 2012 Jul 10. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 22776006.

Related Resource:  Fly stocks at the BDSC related to Parkinsons Disease.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Relevant fly stocks at BDSC.

The Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center is cataloging mutant alleles and in vivo RNAi fly stocks useful for studying human disease-related genes. Here's their page on resources for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS (also known as Lou Gherig's disease).