Study Neurodegeneration In Drosophila: Identification Of Mutants And Al's Role

Neurodegeneration is a widespread pathological condition found in people. Many diseases, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Huntington's disease (HD), belong to neurodegenerative disease. At present, our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of these diseases is still incomplete, and there is no efficient treatment to prevent or cure the disorder.With the help of fruit fly, we could study the neurodegeneration. Drosophila melanogaster, with its highly evolved nervous system, short generation time, and amenability to genetic and molecular analysis, offers an incisive tool for biological study. In our work, we screen neurodegeneration related mutations from 1800 fly mutants, and we got two interesting mutants, 1613 and 1630. 1630 had short life span. It showed abnormal movement in heat-shock assay. Movement ability of 1630 reduced dramatically as it was getting aged, and many bubbles could be detected in its brain, showing that 1630 was taking severe neurodegeneration. Life-span of 1613 seemed normal, while it showed abnormal movement in heat-shock assay. Movement ability of 1613 reduced as it was getting aged, and we could detect some bubbles in its brain, which were less than that of 1630, showing that 1613 was taking a slight neurodegeneration. These mutants could be used as neurodegeneration modal for out further study.We also try to study the relationship of Al3+ and neurodegeneration, with the help of fruit flies. First of all, we feed wild type flies with metal food, which contains different concentration of Al3+. Then we check the movement ability, life span, and brain section of the flies. It was found that the flies showed short life span, bad movement ability, and bubbles in brain section, which shows that Al3+ could cause neurodegeneration of the flies.