Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, New Research Building/RM 339, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Semin Immunopathol. 2010 Dec;32(4):363-72. doi: 10.1007/s00281-010-0223-y. Epub 2010 Aug 27.
Originally identified as a response to starvation in yeast, autophagy is now understood to fulfill a variety of roles in higher eukaryotes, from the maintenance of cellular homeostasis to the cellular response to stress, starvation, and infection. Although genetics and biochemical studies in yeast have identified many components involved in autophagy, the findings that some of the essential components of the yeast pathway are missing in higher organisms underscore the need to study autophagy in more complex systems. This review focuses on the use of the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster as a model system for analysis of autophagy. Drosophila is an organism well-suited for genetic analysis and represents an intermediate between yeast and mammals with respect to conservation of the autophagy machinery. Furthermore, the complex biology and physiology of Drosophila presents an opportunity to model human diseases in a tissue specific and analogous context.
最初被认为是酵母对饥饿的反应，自噬现在被理解为在高等真核生物中发挥多种作用，从维持细胞内稳态到细胞对压力、饥饿和感染的反应。尽管酵母中的遗传学和生化研究已经确定了许多参与自噬的成分，但发现酵母途径中的一些必需成分在高等生物中缺失，这强调了在更复杂的系统中研究自噬的必要性。这篇综述重点介绍了使用果蝇作为自噬分析的模型系统。果蝇是一种非常适合遗传分析的生物，在自噬机制的保守性方面介于酵母和哺乳动物之间。此外，果蝇复杂的生物学和生理学为在特定组织和类似背景下模拟人类疾病提供了机会。
