Drosophila models of neurodegenerative disease

Over the last two decades, a number of mutations have been identified that give rise to neurodegenerative disorders, including familial forms of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Although in most cases sporadic cases vastly outnumber familial forms of such diseases, study of such inherited forms has the potential to provide powerful clues regarding the pathophysiological basis of neurodegeneration. One powerful approach to analyzing disease mechanisms is the development of transgenic animal models, most notably in the mouse. However, development and analysis of such models can be costly and time consuming. Development of improved transgenic technologies have contributed to the development of Drosophila models of a number of neurodegenerative disorders that have shown striking similarities to the human diseases. Moreover, genetic screens using such models have begun to unravel aspects of the pathophysiological basis of neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we provide a general overview of fly models pertinent to trinucleotide repeat expansion disorders, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases, and highlight key genetic modifiers that have been identified to date using such models.