Drosophila
- Human TTBK1, TTBK2 and MARK1 kinase toxicity in Drosophila melanogaster is exacerbated by co-expression of human Tau
Summary: Tau hyper-phosphorylation has been linked to toxicity, but the Tau isoforms, kinases and residues remain unclear. Using the Drosophila model, we find evidence for involvement of TTBK and MARK kinases.
- Dietary saccharides and sweet tastants have differential effects on colonization of Drosophila oocytes by Wolbachia endosymbionts
Summary: The density of Wolbachia infection in Drosophila oocytes is significantly increased by dietary sugars, but not sugar alcohols or artificial sweeteners.
- Cross-linking mass spectrometry identifies new interfaces of Augmin required to localise the γ-tubulin ring complex to the mitotic spindle
Summary: A map of subunit positional restrictions in Drosophila Augmin shows that Dgt3, Dgt5 and Dgt6 are all required to localise gamma-TuRC to mitotic spindles.
- Analysis of axonal trafficking via a novel live-imaging technique reveals distinct hedgehog transport kinetics
Summary: A novel method to directly visualize Hedgehog transport in the photoreceptor neurons of living animals offers unprecedented positional and temporal detail of complex phenotypes in real time.
- Metabolic rate and hypoxia tolerance are affected by group interactions and sex in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster): new data and a literature survey
Summary: Technical advances allowing oxygen consumption measurement in individual fruit flies actually take them out of their normal highly social context, resulting in higher oxygen consumption rates than in natural groups.
- Preference for and learning of amino acids in larval Drosophila
Summary: Drosophila larvae show positive preference but for a few individual amino acids. The preference partially changes depending on larval stage and deprivation. In learning experiments, all 20 tested amino acids were equally rewarding.
- Quantitative microscopy uncovers ploidy changes during mitosis in live Drosophila embryos and their effect on nuclear size
Summary: A new 3D time-lapse microscopy image analysis pipeline consisting of nuclear segmentation, tracking, annotation and quantification revealed karyotype changes in Drosophila embryos.
- Enhancing NAD+ salvage metabolism is neuroprotective in a PINK1 model of Parkinson's disease
Summary: Dietary supplementation with an NAD+ salvage metabolite or decreasing Parp activity suppress mitochondrial dysfunction and is neuroprotective in a PINK1 model of Parkinson's disease.
- Dynamic analysis of the mesenchymal-epithelial transition of blood-brain barrier forming glia in Drosophila
Summary: This study examines the major steps and underlying mechanisms of mesenchymal-epithelial transition of the blood-brain-barrier forming glia in Drosophila, including the role of basal lamina, septate junctions and of trimeric G protein signaling.
- A genetically encoded biosensor for visualising hypoxia responses in vivo
Summary: This study describes a biosensor for visualising the hypoxic state of cells in vivo. They demonstrate that the Drosophila larval brain contains distinct hypoxic microenvironments that correlate with local airway supply.