Wesolowska Natalia, Rong Yikang S
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Fly (Austin). 2010 Jan-Mar;4(1):53-9. doi: 10.4161/fly.4.1.10993. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
The beginnings of Drosophila as a model organism reach far back into the 1900s to Thomas Hunt Morgan's first fly room. The success of this system for the study of genetics is closely linked to the fact that the fly is amenable to complex genetic manipulations so that random mutagenesis screens can be easily performed. Nonetheless, current advances in genomics and in our ability to predict protein function emphasize the importance of mutagenesis methods that are not random, but rather give the researcher control over how the gene is modified. Gene targeting in Drosophila, developed almost a decade ago, makes use of the organism's own DNA repair machinery to exchange genetic information between a chromosomal target and an exogenous template. Here we discuss available targeting methods and recent advances that facilitate repeated targeting and open the doors to routine allelic studies.
果蝇作为一种模式生物的起源可以追溯到20世纪初托马斯·亨特·摩根的第一个果蝇实验室。这个用于遗传学研究的系统之所以成功，与果蝇易于进行复杂的基因操作这一事实密切相关，因此可以轻松地进行随机诱变筛选。尽管如此，基因组学的当前进展以及我们预测蛋白质功能的能力强调了非随机诱变方法的重要性，这些方法能让研究人员控制基因的修饰方式。大约十年前开发的果蝇基因靶向技术，利用生物体自身的DNA修复机制在染色体靶点和外源模板之间交换遗传信息。在这里，我们讨论现有的靶向方法以及最近的进展，这些进展有助于重复靶向并为常规等位基因研究打开大门。
