The art and design of genetic screens: Drosophila melanogaster
Abstract
The success of Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism is largely due to the power of forward genetic screens to identify the genes that are involved in a biological process. Traditional screens, such as the Nobel-prize-winning screen for embryonic-patterning mutants, can only identify the earliest phenotype of a mutation. This review describes the ingenious approaches that have been devised to circumvent this problem: modifier screens, for example, have been invaluable for elucidating signal-transduction pathways, whereas clonal screens now make it possible to screen for almost any phenotype in any cell at any stage of development.
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Genetic modifier screens are commonly applied to identify genes that act in developmental or biochemical pathways in fruit flies, worms, and bacteria, but this approach is rare in the mouse.
“Genetic modifier screens are commonly applied to identify genes that act in developmental or biochemical pathways in fruit flies, worms, and bacteria10; however, this approach is rare in the mouse11,12.”
From A suppressor screen in Mecp2 mutant mice implicates cholesterol metabolism in Rett syndrome (2013) · cites this paper as [10]
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CoinFLP: a system for efficient mosaic screening and for visualizing clonal boundaries in Drosophila
Bosch, J. A., Tran, N. H. B., & Hariharan, I. (2015) · Development · doi:10.1242/dev.114603 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
“Many of the genes that regulate development in a variety of organisms have been discovered in genetic screens that utilize the Drosophila eye (St Johnston, 2002).”
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A Drosophila Model of Alzheimer's Disease
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“Hypothe-sis-free forward genetics applied in yeast, Drosophila , and Caenorhabditis elegans has provided deeper insights into diverse biological processes (Forsburg, 2001; Jorgensen and Mango, 2002; St Johnston, 2002).”
Extracellular matrix and its receptors indrosophilaneural development
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“…recording combine with sophisticated and versatile genetic research strategies, including conducting unbiased screens for molecules contributing to neurological processes of interest (St Johnston, 2002; Venken and Bellen, 2005; Venken et al., 2009; Giacomotto and Segalat, 2010; Zhang et al., 2010).”
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Recombinases and their use in gene activation, gene inactivation, and transgenesis.
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The Maize Oil Yellow1 (Oy1) Gene Encodes the I Subunit of Magnesium Chelatase
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Whole-animal imaging, gene function, and the Zebrafish Phenome Project
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Systematic quantification of gene interactions by phenotypic array analysis
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“melanogaster (8,9), gene silencing in Drosophila adults is mainly achieved by establishment of transgenic strains expressing hairpin constructs against the targeted genes (1).”
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Drosophila melanogaster and the development of biology in the 20th century.
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The quest for the best target genes for RNAi ‐mediated pest control
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Drosophila Models of Tauopathies: What Have We Learned?
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“All these tools give to researchers using Drosophila the possibility to perform in-depth reverse genetic studies as well as large-scale forward genetic screens, enabling the identification of novel biological pathways in an unbiased manner [17].”
Drosophila, Genetic Screens, and Cardiac Function
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Discovery and Use of Small Molecules for Probing Biological Processes in Zebrafish
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Large-scale identification of chemically induced mutations in Drosophila melanogasterPreprint
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“Numerous mutagenesis screens have been performed since the introduction of Drosophila as a model organism (St. Johnston 2002).”
- Authors
- St Johnston, D.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Genetics
- Published
- 2002-03
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 176-188
- ISSN
- 1471-0056 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-0064
- OpenAlex
- W2027125425
- Cited by
- 644
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 32 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 1.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Genetics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Diptera species taxonomy and behavior
- Keywords
- forward genetic screen, Drosophila melanogaster, modifier screen, embryonic patterning, signaling pathways
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Crosses, Genetic, Drosophila melanogaster, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Eye, Female, Genetic Testing, Male, Phenotype, Gene Expression, Genes, Suppressor, Mutagenesis, Genes, Insect
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