Modeling Neurodegenerative Diseases Using Transgenic Model of Drosophila

Abstract

From the past several decades, neuroscientists have been focusing on understanding the mechanisms of various human neurodegenerative diseases using different models such as Mouse, Rat, Zebrafish, worm and the Drosophila. Among them, the Drosophila, with a short generation time and genetic amenity, has emerged as a vital and prevailing model system to explore multiple aspects of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, etc. In this chapter, we have presented various molecular, genetic and therapeutic approaches employed to model human neurodegenerative diseases using Drosophila. Furthermore, we also present the worldwide prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases, along with a survey of published literatures of research conducted in the last two decades on major neurodegenerative diseases employing transgenic Drosophila, to evaluate where we stand.

Keywords: Neurodegeneration, Senile plaques, Neurofibrillary tangles, α- Synuclein, Huntingtin, CAG repeat, MARCM system, GAL4 /UAS binary system, CRISPR-Cas system, Therapeutics.