Why is Drosophila a good
model for human?
1.
Of human genes known to
be associated with disease, 60% are conserved in Drosophila [Schneider,
2000].
2.
Relevant to our work, molecules
needed for normal cell proliferation as well as those needed to respond to
damaged DNA are conserved between Drosophila and human. These include tumor
suppressors (e.g. Hippo, p53), checkpoint kinases (ATM, ATR), and growth factor
signaling pathways and their components including activators and inhibitors
(RAS, EGFR).
3.
Conserved genes, such as
p53 and PTEN, as well as IGFR, MAPK, EGFR, and CHK1 appear to retain many of
the functions attributable to their human homologs [e.g. Goberdhan
et al. 1999].
4.
Small molecule
inhibitors found in a Drosophila screen can translate to human with high
efficiency. In a recently published report from the Institute of Chemistry and
Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, of 25 small molecules that inhibited
cytokinesis in Drosophila cultured cells, 65% (16/25) inhibited cytokinesis in
HeLa (human cervical cancer) cells while 52% (13/25) inhibited cytokinesis in
BSC-1 (monkey kidney) cells [Eggert
2004]. Thus Drosophila can be used to screen for potential human
therapeutics.
5.
Half of the 2011 Nobel
Prize for Medicine was awarded to:
á
Jules
Hoffmann for the discovery, first in 1996, of the Toll receptor in immunity
in Drosophila
á
Bruce A. Beutler for the
discovery, 2 years later, of Toll-like receptors in mice
(the
other half went to Ralph Steinman for the discovery of dendritic cells in
immune response)