GSBS Student Publications
Title
Using Drosophila models of Huntington's disease as a translatable tool
GSBS Program
Neuroscience
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Neurobiology
Date
8-1-2015
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Computational Biology | Genetics | Genomics | Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience | Molecular Genetics
Abstract
The Huntingtin (Htt) protein is essential for a wealth of intracellular signaling cascades and when mutated, causes multifactorial dysregulation of basic cellular processes. Understanding the contribution to each of these intracellular pathways is essential for the elucidation of mechanisms that drive pathophysiology. Using appropriate models of Huntington's disease (HD) is key to finding the molecular mechanisms that contribute to neurodegeneration. While mouse models and cell lines expressing mutant Htt have been instrumental to HD research, there has been a significant contribution to our understating of the disease from studies utilizing Drosophila melanogaster. Flies have an Htt protein, so the endogenous pathways with which it interacts are likely conserved. Transgenic flies engineered to overexpress the human mutant HTT gene display protein aggregation, neurodegeneration, behavioral deficits and a reduced lifespan. The short life span of flies, low cost of maintaining stocks and genetic tools available for in vivo manipulation make them ideal for the discovery of new genes that are involved in HD pathology. It is possible to do rapid genome wide screens for enhancers or suppressors of the mutant Htt-mediated phenotype, expressed in specific tissues or neuronal subtypes. However, there likely remain many yet unknown genes that modify disease progression, which could be found through additional screening approaches using the fly. Importantly, there have been instances where genes discovered in Drosophila have been translated to HD mouse models.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: J Neurosci Methods. 2015 Aug 1. pii: S0165-0270(15)00281-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.07.026. [Epub ahead of print] Link to article on publisher's site
DOI of Published Version
10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.07.026
Related Resources
Journal Title
Journal of neuroscience methods
PubMed ID
26241927
Repository Citation
Lewis, Elizabeth A. and Smith, Gaynor A., "Using Drosophila models of Huntington's disease as a translatable tool" (2015). GSBS Student Publications. 1959.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsbs_sp/1959