Functional genomic analysis of the Drosophila immune response

Drosophila melanogaster has been widely used as a model organism for over a century now, and also as an immunological research model for over 20 years. With the emergence of RNA interference (RNAi) in Drosophila as a robust tool to silence genes of interest, large-scale or genome-wide functional analysis has become a popular way of studying the Drosophila immune response in cell culture. Drosophila immunity is composed of cellular and humoral immunity mechanisms, and especially the systemic, humoral response pathways have been extensively dissected using the functional genomic approach. Although most components of the main immune pathways had already been found using traditional genetic screening techniques, important findings including pathway components, positive and negative regulators and modifiers have been made with RNAi screening. Additionally, RNAi screening has produced new information on host-pathogen interactions related to the pathogenesis of many microbial species.