Using Drosophila melanogaster to uncover human disease gene function and potential drug target proteins

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is a powerful genetic model organism, which has been instrumental in the determination of essential developmental and neurological pathways conserved from invertebrates to humans. With the completion of both the human and Drosophila genomes, the revelation that we are more similar to this simple organism than previously suspected was realised. 75% of human genetic disease genes have clear homologues in the fly. By utilising an array of genetic tools available to disrupt or misexpress these proteins, it is now feasible to perform large-scale genetic screens in Drosophila to identify other members of a particular human genetic pathway. This review outlines some of the reasons Drosophila is a useful tool for the discovery of therapeutic targets, covers some of the tools available to manipulate this organism and discusses specific examples of how to use Drosophila as a genetic test tube for revealing proteins which act in a common pathway.