果蝇——打开生命科学之门的金钥匙

作为一种重要的模式生物,果蝇以其相对清晰的遗传学背景、丰富的表型特定、独特的发育特点而深受研究者青睐,为生命科学特别是遗传学和发育生物学的研究和发展提供了极大的方便。随着果蝇全基因组测序工作的完成,它在胚胎发育、基因表达调控、疾病发病机制等方面的研究中正在发挥更大的作用。     

往事拟南芥

拟南芥对所有研究生物学的人来说,可谓耳熟能详。它和果蝇、酵母、线虫、斑马鱼、白鼠等一样,是一种重要的模式生物,在遗传、发育和生理学等领域的研究中,     

催生诺贝尔奖的昆虫——果蝇

果蝇是双翅目果蝇科果蝇属昆虫,用作模式生物的一般是常见的黑腹果蝇。果蝇在遗传与进化、胚胎发育、细胞生理等方面研究中是极为优良的模式动物。阐述了果蝇的特点和作为生物学研究材料的优势,以及由果蝇研究而产生的成果及实际意义。果蝇遗传物质结构相对简单,有大量的性状变异;摩尔根获得了诺贝尔奖,与那只"例外"的白眼果蝇和染色体不分离的"例外"现象息息相关。如今,在遗传学模式生物中,果蝇几乎成为研究遗传规律和遗传现象的头号选手。果蝇作为材料的研究几乎始终引领着生命科学,特别是遗传学和发育生物学的发展。     

果蝇在肿瘤学研究中的优势及应用前景

果蝇作为研究人类疾病的模式生物, 与哺乳动物不仅在基本的生物学、生理学和神经系统机能等方面比较相似, 而且果蝇有其作为模式生物的独特优势。近年来的研究表明, 果蝇和人类在肿瘤发生信号通路等方面的保守性很高, 而且果蝇具有很强的遗传学可操作性, 是肿瘤学研究有效的模型之一, 可用于研究人类肿瘤发生、发展、转移等分子机制。文章综述了果蝇在肿瘤学研究中的优势、已建立的用于研究特定癌症的果蝇模型, 并对其在未来肿瘤学的研究方向进行展望, 以期为国内肿瘤学研究和抗肿瘤药物的研发提供参考。     

往事拟南芥

<正>拟南芥对所有研究生物学的人来说,可谓耳熟能详。它和果蝇、酵母、线虫、斑马鱼、白鼠等一样,是一种重要的模式生物,在遗传、发育和生理学等领域的研究中,发挥了举足轻重的作用。对很多植物分子生物学家来说,拟南芥几乎是不可或缺的材料。然而,这样一种不起眼     

利用黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）研究微量金属元素代谢

微量金属参与了生物体许多化学反应过程,同时也可作为蛋白质的辅基或辅因子起作用,对机体生长发育以及正常生物功能的维持具有重要作用;微量金属元素的代谢失衡与生物体许多疾病密切相关,如威尔森氏病、门克斯病、铁色素沉积、肠变性皮炎以及一些神经退行性疾病。黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）是遗传背景清楚、生活周期短、操作方便的模式生物,利用果蝇研究金属离子代谢以及金属离子代谢与疾病的联系具有独特的优势,近年来,随着果蝇基因组测序的完成以及许多转基因果蝇株的建立,果蝇也越来越多的用于金属离子代谢的研究。介绍了近年来果蝇在金属离子代谢研究领域的进展,以及其与神经退行性疾病关系研究上的一些应用。     

“观察果蝇的生殖与发育”的实验教学

黑腹果蝇作为遗传学研究中重要的模式生物,其科研价值一直备受瞩目。目前中学生物学实验教学中少有利用果蝇作为实验材料的案例,其主要原因是:果蝇培养、果蝇相关实验的具体操作在中学教材中未提供成熟的、适宜在中学实验室中操作的方法。针对上述问题,探索出了在中学实验室中进行果蝇饲养的条件,以及适合中学生的果蝇成虫麻醉方法,使果蝇成为"观察昆虫的生殖和发育"实验中较为理想的昆虫材料之一。     

中国科学院模式生物发育与疾病国际研讨会（第二轮通知）

一、会议主题 模式生物（包括小鼠、爪蟾、斑马鱼、果蝇、线虫和酵母等）是现代生命科学和医学研究不可缺少的重要研究体系,是推动生命科学和医学研究发展的火车头。大会希望通过此次研讨促进模式动物发育与疾病研究重点领域的实质性交流与合作,增强我国在发育生物学和人类疾病研究领域的源头创新能力。会议组委会热诚欢迎国内外同行,特别是青年学者和学生踊跃参加。     

果蝇热激蛋白的研究进展

热休克蛋白(heat shock proteins,HSPs)是生物体受到应激刺激时诱导产生的一组保守性蛋白,普遍存在于各种生物体中。近年来,果蝇Drosophila作为生命科学与人类疾病研究的重要模式生物,其热激蛋白的研究取得了许多新的进展。文章对果蝇热激蛋白的类别、热激蛋白基因的表达调控机制、热激蛋白的分子伴侣功能、调节细胞存亡和影响发育及寿命等相关生物学功能进行综述,并对热激蛋白在神经退行性疾病治疗中的应用前景作展望。     

果蝇衰老的调控机制

衰老是一个复杂的生物学过程,涉及到有害物质的积累导致整体生命功能的下降,生物的生理状况逐渐恶化,最终导致疾病和死亡。黑腹果蝇Drosophila melanogaster作为最重要的遗传学工具之一,近年来常被用于衰老的研究,以阐明衰老的发生与发展机制。本文结合本实验室的研究进展,综述了果蝇寿命调控的生理生化机制,如保幼激素、胰岛素/类胰岛素生长因子、TOR信号网络、腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶信号通路、热量限制和饮食限制、氧化应激、小分子RNA以及鞘脂类代谢都会对果蝇的寿命产生影响。除此之外,基因调控网络研究还能够发现潜在的与长寿相关的基因组区域,将有可能发现更多寿命相关基因。以果蝇为模式生物的研究,对于其他昆虫衰老、存活等种群生物学问题的研究以及天敌、益虫保育和害虫控制,具有十分重要的指导意义。     

Synphilin suppresses α-synuclein neurotoxicity in a Parkinson's disease Drosophila model

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in humans. It affects 1% of the population over 65-years old. Its causes are environmental and genetic. As the world population ages, there is an urgent need for better and more detailed animal models for this kind of disease. In this work we show that the use of transgenic Drosophila is comparable to more complicated and costly animal models such as mice. The Drosophila model behaves very similar to the equivalent transgenic mice model. We show that both Synphilin-1 and α-synuclein are toxic by themselves, but when co-expressed, they suppress their toxicity reciprocally. Importantly, the symptoms induced in the fly can be treated and partially reverted using standard PD pharmacological treatments. This work showcases Drosophila as a detailed and multifaceted model for Parkinson's disease, providing a convenient platform in which to study and find new genetic modifiers of PD. genesis 49:392-402, 2011.     

利用果蝇模型研究人类心脏早期发育的分子机理(英文)

近年来 ,果蝇心脏特化的遗传机制已初步研究清楚 ,但控制人类心脏早期发育的基因尚待鉴定。因为调控果蝇和脊椎动物早期心脏细胞命运定型的途径具有保守性 ,果蝇是一种探讨人类心脏早期发育的分子机理的理想动物模式。为此目的 ,我们采用P转座子和EMS诱变技术建立了约 3 0 0 0个隐性致死基因平衡系。通过心脏前体细胞特异性抗体免疫组化筛选 ,我们检出 2 0 0余个表现心脏突变表型的平衡致死系。我们进一步利用RNAi技术对一些基因的功能进行了初步的研究 ,证明这些基因表现RNAi的突变表型 ,该类突变表型与基因突变时表现的表型相似 ,即心管呈缺陷型或无心脏前体细胞形成。利用果蝇和人类基因组计划获得的成果 ,我们从果蝇心脏侯选基因中初步克隆和鉴定了 5 0个人类同源基因 ,其中 2 0个是新基因。Northen印迹分析表明 ,一部分人类基因在心脏组织中有表达 ,从而为研究这些基因在人类心脏早期发育中的作用提供了信息。目前 ,我们正在建立转基因果蝇 ,以此为模型研究这些基因是否对心肌细胞发生或心肌功能起调控作用。产生心肌细胞突变类型的基因如果类似于人类心脏病综合症 ,则可以作为人类心脏疾病侯选基因作进一步的分析。     

Using Drosophila as a model insect

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has become such a popular model organism for studying human disease that it is often described as a little person with wings. This view has been strengthened with the sequencing of the Drosophila genome and the discovery that 60% of human disease genes have homologues in the fruit fly. In this review, I discuss the approach of using Drosophila not only as a model for metazoans in general but as a model insect in particular. Specifically, I discuss recent work on the use of Drosophila to study the transmission of disease by insect vectors and to investigate insecticide function and development.     

生命科学研究中常用模式生物

模式生物是生命科学研究的重要材料,目前公认的用于生命科学研究的常见模式生物有噬菌体、大肠杆菌、酵母、线虫、果蝇、斑马鱼、小鼠、拟南芥等.这8种常用模式生物对生命现象的揭密和人类疾病治疗的探索等都所做出了重大贡献,对其在生命科学研究中的历史轨迹、各自优势、技术手段、热点研究、发展前景等系统而又简要的了解,有助于具体而又生动地体察到模式生物在今天生命科学发展中的重要地位和推动生命科学及医学进步的不可替代的巨大潜力.     

Drosophila models of human neurodegenerative disease

Drosophila has provided a powerful genetic system in which to elucidate fundamental cellular pathways in the context of a developing and functioning nervous system. Recently, Drosophila has been applied toward elucidating mechanisms of human neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. Drosophila allows study of the normal function of disease proteins, as well as study of effects of familial mutations upon targeted expression of human mutant forms in the fly. These studies have revealed new insight into the normal functions of such disease proteins, as well as provided models in Drosophila that will allow genetic approaches to be applied toward elucidating ways to prevent or delay toxic effects of such disease proteins. These, and studies to come that follow from the recently completed sequence of the Drosophila genome, underscore the contributions that Drosophila as a model genetic system stands to contribute toward the understanding of human neurodegenerative disease.     

Modeling human neurodegenerative diseases in Drosophila: on a wing and a prayer

The ability of Drosophila genetics to reveal new insights into human neurodegenerative disease is highlighted not only by mutants in flies that show neuronal cell loss, but also by targeted expression of human disease genes in the fly. Moreover, study of Drosophila homologs of various human disease genes provides new insight into fundamental aspects of protein function. These recent findings confirm the remarkable homology of gene function in flies when compared with humans. With the advent of complete genomic sequencing on the horizon, Drosophila will continue to be an outstanding model system in which to unravel the complexities, causes and treatments for human neural degeneration.     

DeadEasy Caspase: Automatic Counting of Apoptotic Cells in Drosophila

Development, cancer, neurodegenerative and demyelinating diseases, injury, and stem cell manipulations are characterised by alterations in cell number. Research into development, disease, and the effects of drugs require cell number counts. These are generally indirect estimates, because counting cells in an animal or organ is paradoxically difficult, as well as being tedious and unmanageable. Drosophila is a powerful model organism used to investigate the genetic bases of development and disease. There are Drosophila models for multiple neurodegenerative diseases, characterised by an increase in cell death. However, a fast, reliable, and accurate way to count the number of dying cells in vivo is not available. Here, we present a method based on image filtering and mathematical morphology techniques, to count automatically the number of dying cells in intact fruit-fly embryos. We call the resulting programme DeadEasy Caspase. It has been validated for Drosophila and we present examples of its power to address biological questions. Quantification is automatic, accurate, objective, and very fast. DeadEasy Caspase will be freely available as an ImageJ plug-in, and it can be modified for use in other sample types. It is of interest to the Drosophila and wider biomedical communities. DeadEasy Caspase is a powerful tool for the analysis of cell survival and cell death in development and in disease, such as neurodegenerative diseases and ageing. Combined with the power of Drosophila genetics, DeadEasy expands the tools that enable the use of Drosophila to analyse gene function, model disease and test drugs in the intact nervous system and whole animal.     

The Drosophila genome

The past year has been a spectacular one for Drosophila research. The sequencing and annotation of the Drosophila melanogaster genome has allowed a comprehensive analysis of the first three eukaryotes to be sequenced-yeast, worm and fly-including an analysis of the fly's influences as a model for the study of human disease. This year has also seen the initiation of a full-length cDNA sequencing project and the first analysis of Drosophila development using high-density DNA microarrays containing several thousand Drosophila genes. For the first time homologous recombination has been demonstrated in flies and targeted gene disruptions may not be far off.     

果蝇蛋白质组学研究进展

蛋白质组学旨在阐明基因组所表达的真正执行生命活动的全部蛋白质的表达规律和生物功能。随着人类基因组学计划的逐渐成熟,分子水平的实验技术不断发展,蛋白质组学的研究被提高到了前所未有的高度。果蝇是生命科学领域最为常用的一种模式生物,长期的系统研究也使果蝇的基因组成为至今注释最好的基因组之一,为功能基因组研究奠定了基础。但由于技术的限制,迄今有关果蝇蛋白质组学研究的报道尚不多见。近年来果蝇蛋白质组学的研究主要包括表达谱、修饰谱、比较蛋白质组学和疾病模型蛋白质组等四个方向,为进一步开展人类疾病临床蛋白质组学研究奠定了基础。