Determination
David Woolley, Adam Woolley in Practical Toxicology, 2017
There is an extensive history of genotoxicity test systems, including the use of mice in the mouse coat color spot test, to assess mutation due to radiation, and the dominant lethal assay also in mice, both of which were developed in the late 1950s and 1960s. The use of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a longer history in mutation research but has fallen out of favor. These tests depended on anesthetizing the flies at intervals to check effects. The potential disadvantages of imperfect anesthesia and the escape of the flies into the open laboratory or their death, together with the technical demands of difference recognition, may have had some influence on the decline in their use. The stress associated with chasing an expensive experiment around a laboratory with a butterfly net could not be expected to increase its popularity with toxicologists.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Dongyou Liu in Laboratory Models for Foodborne Infections, 2017
Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly), despite its small size (∼2 mm in length), is a great invertebrate model organism that adequately reflects some aspects of the mammalian pathogenesis of infection.79,80 Its short life cycle and easy rearing allows the production of up to ∼50 adult progeny per female fly within 2 weeks, which facilitates the large-scale in vivo screening of bacterial mutants. Many human bacterial, fungal, and viral infections can be studied in Drosophila.81 Notwithstanding the lack of adaptive immunity as we know it in mammals, Drosophila has similar innate immunity, disease-related signaling pathways, and cellular types to those of mammals. Thus, it is a good model for studying the pathogenicity of microbial infections, including those caused by P. aeruginosa.79,80,82
Host Defense and Parasite Evasion
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin in Parasitology, 2023
As we will discuss in Chapter 6, immune responses are costly to mount, and heavy investment in defenses can limit the resources available for other key functions such as reproduction. This general constraint would certainly apply to invertebrates too. Consequently, it is not surprising that animals resort to particular behaviors to limit their exposure to parasites or, in the context here, to supplement their immune responses. One example is provided by the larvae of Drosophila melanogaster, which consume yeast developing in rotting fruit. The larvae are susceptible to attack by parasitoid wasps (species of Leptopilina), the females of which inject their eggs into the fly larvae. The developing wasp larvae then consume and eventually kill the fly larvae. Upon wasp attack, fly larvae seek out food containing ethanol, which proves to be an advantageous drinking habit in this case. Wasp larvae are more sensitive to the effects of ethanol than the fly larvae, and ethanol supplementation in the larval fly diet reduces wasp infection success, increases killing of wasp larvae and promotes survivorship of larval flies without the fly larvae having to mount typical defense responses.
Evaluating Water bitter leaf (Struchium sparganophora) and Scent Leaf (Ocimum gratissimum) extracts as sources of nutraceuticals against manganese-induced toxicity in fruit fly model
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2023
Adedayo Oluwaseun Ademiluyi, Opeyemi Babatunde Ogunsuyi, Josephine Oluwaseun Akinduro, Olayemi Philemon Aro, Ganiyu Oboh
The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), is one of the most studied eukaryotic organisms and has made fundamental contributions to different areas of biology. It has also gained appreciation as a useful animal model of human diseases. Comparative genomic studies estimate that up to 75% of the human genes implicated in diseases are expressed in Drosophila (Ugur et al. 2016). The similarity between human and Drosophila genomes is not limited to only genetic, but also numerous conserved biological mechanisms. The Drosophila genome is smaller in size and has a smaller number of genes compared to the human genome, which facilitates genetic studies. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has proven to be a powerful platform with plenty of amenable genetic techniques to investigate the mechanism of human neurodegenerative diseases (Bilen and Bonini 2005).
Marla Sokolowski: and now for someone completely different
Published in Journal of Neurogenetics, 2021
H. Sofia Pereira, Karen D. Williams, J. Steven de Belle
Drosophila melanogaster is the ideal model system for hands-on genetics instruction, easily permitting young researchers to initiate research in a laboratory setting. Undergraduates from Marla’s courses were frequently encouraged to visit the lab and test-drive their basic fly pushing skills. During the ‘York’ years, students sustained with beer money and bus fare stipends were often introduced to research with summer fly projects. Since the Drosophila larval pathlength assay required many hands working together, trainees also had the opportunity to ‘get their fingers wet’ in collaborative research. The Sokolowski lab always incentivized inclusivity, where the scientific process was knitted together by each one’s experiences in conducting research as well as developing critical thinking and communication skills. As in many well-oiled scientific machines, this stimulating social environment enabled by Marla was creative, productive, and great fun. Unfortunately, and for the sake of simplicity, many legendary stories have been necessarily omitted from this tribute to our former leader.
Cystathionine β-synthase Deficiency Impairs Vision in the Fruit Fly, Drosophila melanogaster
Published in Current Eye Research, 2021
Marycruz Flores-Flores, Leonardo Moreno-García, Felipe Castro-Martínez, Marcos Nahmad
Drosophila melanogaster is a useful model organism to investigate the genetic and molecular basis of human development, behavior, and disease.14 Compared to vertebrate models, it is easier and cheaper to culture and maintain; it has a much shorter life cycle; and, it offers a broad genetic toolkit to manipulate gene expression in space and time.15 A previous study used Drosophila to investigate the role of CBS enzyme activity on longevity and found that over-expression of CBS induces caloric-restricted lifespan extension, whereas down-regulation of the enzyme leads to a decrease in life span.16 However, no study to date has reported the visual phenotype of CBS-deficient flies that could be related to eye manifestations of classical homocystinuria patients.
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