Fly Development

From Embryology
Fly animation.gif

Introduction

Scanning EM of adult fly head

This page introduces the fly, drosophila, as a developmental model organism. The small drosophila fruitfly has been used by genetisists for many years now and much is now understood about its development in relation to gene expression and regulatory mechanisms.

In recent years, using developmental mutants, many mechanisms of development in the fly have been shown to be almost identical to those seen in humans and other animals. In fact, these developmental mechanisms have become the "paradigm" for our understanding of development.

The fruitfly (drosophila) was and is the traditional geneticist's tool. It has been transformed to an magnificent tool for the embryologist, with many developmental mechanisms being uncovered in this system combined with homolgy gene searches in other species.

2009 ANAT2341 Group Project - Fly

Some Recent Findings

  • Development of the imaginal wing disc[1] "LIM-HD gene tailup (islet), together with the HD genes of the iroquois complex, specify the notum territory of the disc. Later, tailup has been shown to act as a prepattern gene that antagonizes formation of sensory bristles on the notum of this fly. ...We conclude that tailup acts on bristle development by several, even antagonistic, mechanisms."
  • The four-dimensional pattern of fly neuron development[2] "We show that segment-specific generation of the Ap cluster neurons is achieved by the integration of the anteroposterior and temporal cues in several different ways. Generation of the Ap neurons in abdominal segments is prevented by anteroposterior cues stopping the cell cycle in the stem cell at an early stage. In brain segments, late-born neurons are generated, but are differently specified due to the presence of different anteroposterior and temporal cues. Finally, in thoracic segments, the temporal and spatial cues integrate on a highly limited set of target genes to specify the Ap cluster neurons."
  • Heart Development[3]"We used an optical coherence tomography imaging technique that provided images similar to echocardiography in humans to measure the cardiac function in adult flies. We identified mutants in members of the rhomboid protease family and epidermal growth factor receptor that cause an enlarged cardiac chamber. Interestingly, abnormalities in the function of members of the epidermal growth factor receptor family in humans that undergo certain chemotherapies are associated with the development of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Our results suggest that epidermal growth factor receptor signaling may be an evolutionarily conserved pathway that is necessary to maintain normal adult cardiac function."

Taxon

melanogaster group

Taxonomy Id: 32346 Rank: species group

Genetic code: Translation table 1 (Standard) Mitochondrial genetic code: Translation table 5 Lineage( abbreviated ): Eukaryota; Metazoa; Arthropoda; Tracheata; Hexapoda; Insecta; Pterygota; Neoptera; Endopterygota; Diptera; Brachycera; Muscomorpha; Ephydroidea; Drosophilidae; Drosophila


Development

The drosophila lifespan varies with temperature and is about 30 days at 29 °C.

A series of papers published between 1976 to 1979 by Turner and Mahowald, characterised the stages of drosophila development in beautiful scanning electron microscope (SEM) images.[4][5][6]

Hox Genes

Fly wild-type head.jpg Fly antennapedia head.jpg
Fly wild-type head[7] Fly antennapedia mutant head[7]

This is the classic mutation that gave rise to the discovery of Hox genes and other genes related to body pattern formation. In this mutant during development the fly embryo incorrectly positioned where (antenna) should have be two legs (pedia)[7]. The discovery of this mutant in Walter Gehring's lab opened up the field of developmental genes and this field has been rewarded with the 1995 Nobel prize in Medicine.


Links: 1995 Nobel Prize

Neural Development

Summary of neural development from neural stem cell population and the gene regulation involved.[2]

Fly neural development 01.png

References

  1. <pubmed>20580820</pubmed>
  2. 2.0 2.1 <pubmed>20485487</pubmed> | PLoS
  3. <pubmed>20523889</pubmed>
  4. <pubmed>817949</pubmed>
  5. <pubmed>406152</pubmed>
  6. <pubmed>1081572</pubmed>
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 <pubmed>108157</pubmed>

Journals

Developmental Dynamics

Journal of Neurobiology

Online Textbooks

Molecular Biology of the Cell (4th Edn) Alberts, Bruce; Johnson, Alexander; Lewis, Julian; Raff, Martin; Roberts, Keith; Walter, Peter. New York: Garland Publishing; 2002.

Developmental Biology (6th Edn) Gilbert, Scott F. Sunderland (MA): Sinauer Associates, Inc.; c2000.

Search NLM Online Textbooks- "drosophila development" : Molecular Biology of the Cell | Molecular Cell Biology | The Cell- A molecular Approach

Reviews

<pubmed>15704150</pubmed> <pubmed>15261654</pubmed> <pubmed>14699588</pubmed> <pubmed>12801722</pubmed>

Articles

<pubmed>16086608</pubmed>

Search PubMed

Search Aug2005 "drosophila development" 13228 reference articles of which 1899 were reviews.

Search Pubmed: fly development | drosophila development

External Links

External Links Notice - The dynamic nature of the internet may mean that some of these listed links may no longer function. If the link no longer works search the web with the link text or name. Links to any external commercial sites are provided for information purposes only and should never be considered an endorsement. UNSW Embryology is provided as an educational resource with no clinical information or commercial affiliation.

Databases

There are a number of excellent internet resources for Fly development.

Fly Pages



Animal Development: axolotl | bat | cat | chicken | cow | dog | dolphin | echidna | fly | frog | goat | grasshopper | guinea pig | hamster | horse | kangaroo | koala | lizard | medaka | mouse | opossum | pig | platypus | rabbit | rat | salamander | sea squirt | sea urchin | sheep | worm | zebrafish | life cycles | development timetable | development models | K12
Historic Embryology  
1897 Pig | 1900 Chicken | 1901 Lungfish | 1904 Sand Lizard | 1905 Rabbit | 1906 Deer | 1907 Tarsiers | 1908 Human | 1909 Northern Lapwing | 1909 South American and African Lungfish | 1910 Salamander | 1951 Frog | Embryology History | Historic Disclaimer

Glossary Links

Glossary: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Numbers | Symbols | Term Link

Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, March 28) Embryology Fly Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Fly_Development

What Links Here?
© Dr Mark Hill 2024, UNSW Embryology ISBN: 978 0 7334 2609 4 - UNSW CRICOS Provider Code No. 00098G