Flies & muscle atrophy--recent review

Piccirillo R, Demontis F, Perrimon N, Goldberg AL. Mechanisms of muscle growth and atrophy in mammals and Drosophila. Dev Dyn. 2013 Aug 29. PMID: 24038488.

The fly & retinal degeneration--recent review

Xiong B, Bellen HJ. Rhodopsin homeostasis and retinal degeneration: lessons from the fly. Trends Neurosci. 2013 Sep 5. PMID: 24012059.

From the abstract: "We review here the molecular signals involved in Rh homeostasis and the mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration in flies, and discuss possible links to human diseases."

Fly models & neurodevelopmental disorders--recent review

Okray Z, Hassan BA. Genetic approaches in Drosophila for the study neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuropharmacology. 2013 May;68:150-6. PMID: 23067575.

From GWAS to functional genetics--fly study related to diabetes and metabolism

Pendse J, Ramachandran PV, Na J, Narisu N, Fink JL, Cagan RL, Collins FS, Baranski TJ. A Drosophila functional evaluation of candidates from human genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic traits identifies tissue-specific roles for dHHEX. BMC Genomics. 2013 Feb 27;14:136. PMID: 23445342; PMCID: PMC3608171.

Two recent fly reports related to neurodegenerative diseases

Richards RI, Samaraweera SE, van Eyk CL, O'Keefe LV, Suter CM. RNA pathogenesis via Toll-like receptor-activated inflammation in expanded repeat neurodegenerative diseases. Front Mol Neurosci. 2013 Sep 5;6:25. PMID: 24046729; PMCID: PMC3763583.

Lenz S, Karsten P, Schulz JB, Voigt A. Drosophila as a screening tool to study human neurodegenerative diseases. J Neurochem. 2013 Sep 12. PMID: 24028575.

Fly models in action--study related to Fragile X syndrome

Friedman SH, Dani N, Rushton E, Broadie K. Fragile X mental retardation protein regulates trans-synaptic signaling. Dis Model Mech. 2013 Sep 5. PMID: 24046358.

New fly model--Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration

Varun P, Hagit T, Uriya B, Sagiv S, Sebastian K. A new in vivo model of pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration reveals a surprising role for transcriptional regulation in pathogenesis. Front Cell Neurosci. 2013 Sep 9;7:146. PMID: 24058333.

Relevant review--NF-Y transcription factor & fly model

Ly LL, Yoshida H, Yamaguchi M. Nuclear transcription factor Y and its roles in cellular processes related to human disease. Am J Cancer Res. 2013 Aug 14;3(4):339-46. PMID: 23977444; PMCID: PMC3744014.

Relevant review--fly model & host defense

Ferrandon D. The complementary facets of epithelial host defenses in the genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster: from resistance to resilience. Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Feb;25(1):59-70. Review. PMID: 23228366.

Expression of Gaucher disease gene in fly eye

Suzuki T, Shimoda M, Ito K, Hanai S, Aizawa H, Kato T, Kawasaki K, Yamaguchi T, Ryoo HD, Goto-Inoue N, Setou M, Tsuji S, Ishida N. Expression of Human Gaucher Disease Gene GBA Generates Neurodevelopmental Defects and ER Stress in Drosophila Eye. PLoS One. 2013 Aug 2;8(8):e69147. PMID: 23936319; PMCID: PMC3732251.

Fly studies relevant to spinal muscular atrophy

Garcia EL, Lu Z, Meers MP, Praveen K, Matera AG. Developmental arrest of Drosophila survival motor neuron (Smn) mutants accounts for differences in expression of minor intron-containing genes. RNA. 2013 Sep 4. PMID: 24006466.

Sen A, Dimlich DN, Guruharsha KG, Kankel MW, Hori K, Yokokura T, Brachat S, Richardson D, Loureiro J, Sivasankaran R, Curtis D, Davidow LS, Rubin LL, Hart AC, Van Vactor D, Artavanis-Tsakonas S. Genetic circuitry of Survival motor neuron, the gene underlying spinal muscular atrophy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 25;110(26):E2371-80. PMID: 23757500; PMCID: PMC3696827.

Review includes discussion of fly models of fungal infection

Arvanitis M, Glavis-Bloom J, Mylonakis E. Invertebrate models of fungal infection. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 Sep;1832(9):1378-83. PMID: 23517918.

From the abstract: "The purpose of this review is to compare several model hosts that have been used in experimental mycology to-date and to describe their different characteristics and contribution to the study of fungal virulence and the detection of compounds with antifungal properties."

"Small organism, big discoveries"--a review and recent neurodegeneration-related studies that include fly models

Debattisti V, Scorrano L. D. melanogaster, mitochondria and neurodegeneration: small model organism, big discoveries. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2013 Jul;55:77-86. PMID: 22940086.

Vashishtha M, Ng CW, Yildirim F, Gipson TA, Kratter IH, Bodai L, Song W, Lau A, Labadorf A, Vogel-Ciernia A, Troncosco J, Ross CA, Bates GP, Krainc D, Sadri-Vakili G, Finkbeiner S, Marsh JL, Housman DE, Fraenkel E, Thompson LM. Targeting H3K4 trimethylation in Huntington disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 6;110(32):E3027-36. PMID: 23872847; PMCID: PMC3740882.

O'Rourke JG, Gareau JR, Ochaba J, Song W, Raskó T, Reverter D, Lee J, Monteys AM, Pallos J, Mee L, Vashishtha M, Apostol BL, Nicholson TP, Illes K, Zhu YZ, Dasso M, Bates GP, Difiglia M, Davidson B, Wanker EE, Marsh JL, Lima CD, Steffan JS, Thompson LM. SUMO-2 and PIAS1 Modulate Insoluble Mutant Huntingtin Protein Accumulation. Cell Rep. 2013 Jul 25;4(2):362-75. PMID: 23871671.

Beharry C, Alaniz ME, Alonso AD. Expression of Alzheimer-Like Pathological Human Tau Induces a Behavioral Motor and Olfactory Learning Deficit in Drosophila Melanogaster. J Alzheimers Dis. PMID: 23948901.

Mason RP, Casu M, Butler N, Breda C, Campesan S, Clapp J, Green EW, Dhulkhed D, Kyriacou CP, Giorgini F. Glutathione peroxidase activity is neuroprotective in models of Huntington's disease. Nat Genet. 2013 Aug 25. PMID: 23974869.

Study uses fly model of Alzheimer's disease

Park SH, Lee S, Hong YK, Hwang S, Lee JH, Bang SM, Kim YK, Koo BS, Lee IS, Cho KS. Suppressive effects of SuHeXiang Wan on amyloid-β42-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase hyperactivation and glial cell proliferation in a transgenic Drosophila model of Alzheimer's disease. Biol Pharm Bull. 2013;36(3):390-8. PMID: 23238278.

Relevant review--fly models & tauopathies

Cowan CM, Mudher A. Are tau aggregates toxic or protective in tauopathies? Front Neurol. 2013;4:114. PMID: 23964266; PMCID: PMC3741634.

Relevant technique: Injecting drugs into adult Drosophila

Howlett IC, Tanouye MA. Seizure-Sensitivity in Drosophila Is Ameliorated by Dorsal Vessel Injection of the Antiepileptic Drug Valproate. J Neurogenet. 2013 PMID: 23941042.

Glaucoma, the unfolded protein response, and the fly--relevant review

Anholt RR, Carbone MA. A molecular mechanism for glaucoma: endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response. Trends Mol Med. 2013 Jul 19. PMID: 23876925.

Includes discussion of a fly model--transgenic expression of myocilin.

Fly disease model used in Huntingtons disease study

Arribat Y, Bonneaud N, Talmat-Amar Y, Layalle S, Parmentier ML, Maschat F. A Huntingtin Peptide Inhibits PolyQ-Huntingtin Associated Defects. PLoS One. 2013 PMID:
23861941; PMCID: PMC3701666.

New fly model--pythiosis

Zanette RA, Santurio JM, Loreto ES, Alves SH, Kontoyiannis DP. Toll-deficient Drosophila is susceptible to Pythium insidiosum infection. Microbiol Immunol. 2013 Jul 19. PMID: 23865688.

From the abstract: "There is a paucity of animal models of pythiosis, a life-threatening disease of humans and animals that has poorly understood immunopathogenesis. We developed a pythiosis model ..."

Integrated approach to spinocerebellar ataxia includes Drosophila genetic screens

Park J, Al-Ramahi I, Tan Q, Mollema N, Diaz-Garcia JR, Gallego-Flores T, Lu HC, Lagalwar S, Duvick L, Kang H, Lee Y, Jafar-Nejad P, Sayegh LS, Richman R, Liu X, Gao Y, Shaw CA, Arthur JS, Orr HT, Westbrook TF, Botas J, Zoghbi HY. RAS-MAPK-MSK1 pathway modulates ataxin 1 protein levels and toxicity in SCA1. Nature. 2013 Jun 20;498(7454):325-31. PMID: 23719381.

From the abstract: "We have developed a strategy to identify therapeutic entry points ... this approach, which integrates parallel cell-based and Drosophila genetic screens, ... revealed that downregulation of several components of the RAS-MAPK-MSK1 pathway decreases ATXN1 levels and suppresses neurodegeneration in Drosophila and mice."

Study includes fly assays relevant to fragile X-associated tremor ataxia syndrome

Todd PK, Oh SY, Krans A, He F, Sellier C, Frazer M, Renoux AJ, Chen KC, Scaglione KM, Basrur V, Elenitoba-Johnson K, Vonsattel JP, Louis ED, Sutton MA, Taylor JP, Mills RE, Charlet-Berguerand N, Paulson HL. CGG repeat-associated translation mediates neurodegeneration in fragile X tremor ataxia syndrome. Neuron. 2013 May 8;78(3):440-55. PMID: 23602499.

From the abstract: "In Drosophila, CGG repeat toxicity is suppressed by eliminating RAN translation and enhanced by increased polyglycine protein production. These studies expand the growing list of nucleotide repeat disorders in which RAN translation occurs and provide evidence that RAN translation contributes to neurodegeneration."

Flies & infection.

Ben-Ami R, Watson CC, Lewis RE, Albert ND, Arias CA, Raad II, Kontoyiannis DP. Drosophila melanogaster as a model to explore the effects of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain type on virulence and response to linezolid treatment. Microb Pathog. 2013 Feb;55:16-20. PMID: 23232438.

Diaz L, Kontoyiannis DP, Panesso D, Albert ND, Singh KV, Tran TT, Munita JM, Murray BE, Arias CA. Dissecting the mechanisms of linezolid resistance in a Drosophila melanogaster infection model of Staphylococcus aureus. J Infect Dis. 2013 Jul;208(1):83-91. PMID: 23547139; PMCID: PMC3666140.


See also this post.

Fly model of Alzheimer's disease is used to explore links to copper homeostasis.

Lang M, Fan Q, Wang L, Zheng Y, Xiao G, Wang X, Wang W, Zhong Y, Zhou B. Inhibition of human high-affinity copper importer Ctr1 orthologous in the nervous system of Drosophila ameliorates Aβ42-induced Alzheimer's disease-like symptoms. Neurobiol Aging. 2013 Nov;34(11):2604-12. PMID: 23827522.

From the abstract:  "These results imply that copper may play a causative role in developing AD ... Early manipulation of brain copper uptake can have a great effect on Aβ pathology."

Fly cells and in vivo assays used in Huntingtons study.

Lu B, Al-Ramahi I, Valencia A, Wang Q, Berenshteyn F, Yang H, Gallego-Flores T, Ichcho S, Lacoste A, Hild M, Difiglia M, Botas J, Palacino J. Identification of NUB1 as a suppressor of mutant Huntington toxicity via enhanced protein clearance. Nat Neurosci. 2013 May;16(5):562-70. PMID: 23525043.

New fly model related to neurodegeneration--DRPLA fly model--linking neurodegeneration with autophagy

Charroux B, Fanto M. The fine line between waste disposal and recycling: DRPLA fly models illustrate the importance of completing the autophagy cycle for rescuing neurodegeneration. Autophagy. 2010 Jul;6(5):667-9. PMID: 20543566.