Special model: Drosophila melanogaster

Drosophila melanogaster as model in neuroscience and neuropathology

We strongly feel that Drosophila represents a fascinating and extremely versatile model for studying pathogenesis of neurological disease as well as for exploring interactions between brain, behavior and environment. This is the reason why we have established a Drosophila lab in our institute building. We are experimentally using the fly in various areas, including neurooncology, neurodegeneration, neurotoxicology and lifestyle neuropathology.

Drosophila melanogaster, as a model organism, offers several advantages, including easy handling, rapid generation time, low cost, and a wide armamentarium of genetic techniques. Many molecular pathways are conserved between invertebrates and humans. Furthermore, Drosophila can be used in neuropharmacological experiments because this organism is amenable to external/food application, inhalation, or injection of substances in a large number of wild type or mutant animals.
 

Figure 1: The Drosophila lab in the Institute of Neuropathology

Selected publications:

  1. Chaouch A, Berlandi J, Chen CCL, Frey F, Badini S, Harutyunyan AS, Chen X, Krug B, Hébert S, Jeibmann A, Lu C, Kleinman CL, Hasselblatt M, Lasko P, Shirinian M, Jabado N
    Histone H3.3 K27M and K36M mutations de-repress transposable elements through perturbation of antagonistic chromatin marks. Mol Cell. 2021. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2021.10.008. Epub 2021 Nov 4. PMID: 34739871
     
  2. Dlugos CP, Picciotto C, Lepa C, Krakow M, Stöber A, Eddy ML, Weide T, Jeibmann A, P Krahn M, Van Marck V, Klingauf J, Ricker A, Wedlich-Söldner R, Pavenstädt H, Klämbt C, George B.
    Nephrin Signaling Results in Integrin β1 Activation. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2019 Jun;30(6):1006-1019. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2018040362. Epub 2019 May 16. PMID: 31097607
     
  3. Berlandi J, Chaouch A, De Jay N, Tegeder I, Thiel K, Shirinian M, Kleinman CL, Jeibmann A, Lasko P, Jabado N, Hasselblatt M.
    Identification of genes functionally involved in the detrimental effects of mutant histone H3.3-K27M in Drosophila melanogaster. Neuro Oncol. 2019 May 6;21(5):628-639. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noz021. PMID: 30715493
     
  4. Tegeder I, Thiel K, Erkek S, Johann PD, Berlandi J, Thatikonda V, Frühwald MC, Kool M, Jeibmann A, Hasselblatt M.
    Functional relevance of genes predicted to be affected by epigenetic alterations in atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors. J Neurooncol. 2019 Jan;141(1):43-55. doi: 10.1007/s11060-018-03018-6. Epub 2018 Nov 16. PMID: 30446899
     

Contact:
Astrid Jeibmann (Email)