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  • Review Article
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Using Drosophila as a model insect

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 1, pages 218–226 (2000)Cite this article

Key Points

  • Insects are a huge health and agricultural burden.

  • The fruitfly can be used as a model insect to study problems in insect biology. For example, Drosophila melanogaster can be used to develop sterile-male techniques of insect control and to study transposable elements.

  • Insects cause important health problems by acting as disease vectors. This review focuses on malaria, the insect-borne disease with the largest effect. There are no malarial vaccines and the insect vector — the Anopheles mosquito — is becoming increasingly resistant to available drugs.

  • Studying the fruitfly as a model insect should help develop new research approaches, for example, for identifying interesting genes and, directly, for studying host–pathogen interactions.

  • Insects have an immune system that fights invading parasites. Because it is difficult to do genetic analysis on the real vectors, Drosophila is useful for discovering the genetic component of the immune system in vector insects.

  • The fruitfly can function as a surrogate disease vector and can be used to study gut microbiology. The cellular and humoral immune systems interact in Drosophila. The fruitfly can therefore be used to support the development of plasmodia.

  • Drosophila is also useful for learning about pesticide–insect interactions. It can be used to identify targets of known pesticides, to identify mechanisms of pesticide resistance and to identify new pesticide targets.

Abstract

The fruitfly 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 fruitfly. 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.

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Figure 1: Routes of disease transmission in insect vectors.
Figure 2: Plasmodial life cycle.
Figure 3: Insect immunity.
Figure 4: Insecticide sites of action.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Sylvia Sanders, Alan Jasanoff, Smita Mishra, Erin Troy and Joseph Weiss for reading the manuscript. I also thank Mohammad Shahhabudin for many discussions about Plasmodium development and vector biology.

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  1. Whitehead Institute, 9 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, 02142, Massachusetts, USA

    David Schneider

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Chagas Disease

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mosquito

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Cactus

Toll

Alzheimer disease

Huntingtin

Huntington disease

GNBP

Defensin

ICHIT

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ISPL5

Cecropin

dredd

Rst(1)JH

Rdl

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Ace

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Exelexis

ELS links

Malaria

Antimicrobial peptides and proteins

Glossary

ANOPHELINE

A mosquito of the subfamily that includes the genus Anopheles, and which may transmit malaria.

CULICINE

A mosquito of the subfamily that includes the genera Mansonia, Aedes and Culex, and which may transmit several diseases.

SCAVENGER RECEPTOR

A cell-surface molecule responsible for recognizing and targeting foreign material for phagocytosis.

SYNCYTIUM

A multinucleate cell in which the nuclei are not separated by cell membranes.

QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCUS (QTL)

A genetic locus identified through the statistical analysis of complex traits (such as plant height or body weight). These traits are typically affected by more than one gene, and also by the environment.

MELANIZATION

A process by which the insect produces melanin and reactive oxygen to coat and kill an invading parasite.

COMMENSAL

An organism participating in a symbiotic relationship, in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.

HAEMOCOEL

The body cavity of an insect. Insects have open circulatory systems and the insect's organs are suspended in the haemocoel and bathed in haemolymph, the insect equivalent of lymph.

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Schneider, D. Using Drosophila as a model insect. Nat Rev Genet 1, 218–226 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35042080

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