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.