Genome-wide phenotypic RNAi screen in the Drosophila wing: phenotypic description of functional classes

The Drosophila genome contains approximately 14,000 protein-coding genes encoding all the necessary information to sustain cellular physiology, tissue organization, organism development, and behavior. In this manuscript, we describe in some detail the phenotypes in the adult fly wing generated after knockdown of approximately 80% of Drosophila genes. We combined this phenotypic description with a comprehensive molecular classification of the Drosophila proteins into classes that summarize the main expected or known biochemical/functional aspect of each protein. This information, combined with mRNA expression levels and in situ expression patterns, provides a simplified atlas of the Drosophila genome, from housekeeping proteins to the components of the signaling pathways directing wing development, that might help to further understand the contribution of each gene group to wing formation.