Department of Neurology, University Medical Center, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
J Neurochem. 2013 Nov;127(4):453-60. doi: 10.1111/jnc.12446. Epub 2013 Oct 21.
In an aging society, research involving neurodegenerative disorders is of paramount importance. Over the past few years, research on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases has made tremendous progress. Experimental studies, however, rely mostly on transgenic animal models, preferentially using mice. Although experiments on mice have enormous advantages, they also have some inherent limitations, some of which can be overcome by the use of Drosophila melanogaster as an experimental animal. Among the major advantages of using the fly is its small genome, which can also be modified very easily. The fact that its genome lends itself to diverse alterations (e. g. mutagenesis, transposons) has made the fly a useful organism to perform large-scale and genome-wide screening approaches. This has opened up an entirely new field of experimental research aiming to elucidate genetic interactions and screen for modifiers of disease processes in vivo. Here, we provide a brief overview of how flies can be used to analyze molecular mechanisms underlying human neurodegenerative diseases.
在老龄化社会中，涉及神经退行性疾病的研究至关重要。在过去的几年中，对阿尔茨海默病和帕金森病的研究取得了巨大进展。然而，实验研究主要依赖于转基因动物模型，优先使用小鼠。尽管小鼠实验具有巨大的优势，但它们也存在一些内在的局限性，其中一些可以通过使用黑腹果蝇作为实验动物来克服。使用果蝇的主要优点之一是其基因组较小，也很容易进行修饰。其基因组可以进行多种改变（例如诱变、转座子）的事实，使果蝇成为进行大规模和全基因组筛选方法的有用生物体。这开辟了一个全新的实验研究领域，旨在阐明遗传相互作用，并在体内筛选疾病过程的修饰物。在这里，我们简要介绍了如何使用果蝇来分析人类神经退行性疾病的分子机制。
