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Genetics

Reverse gear for Drosophila

Nature volume 405, pages 896–897 (2000)Cite this article

These are exciting times for biologists studying the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. In March came the announcement that the DNA sequence of the fly's genome has been almost completely determined1. Now, also in Science, comes a paper from Rong and Golic2 that gives Drosophila geneticists the tantalizing prospect of being able to change that DNA sequence almost at will. After nearly a century of classical ‘forward’ genetics, Drosophila now has the necessary gear for ‘reverse’ genetics as well.

Genetics seeks to bridge the gap between genotype and phenotype. Forward genetics asks which changes in genotype lead to a specific phenotype, while reverse genetics asks how the phenotype responds to specific changes in genotype. Reverse genetics has long been possible in organisms such as yeast and mice. In these systems, researchers can edit the genome specifically with the aid of linear DNA fragments prepared in vitro. These fragments contain the desired sequence changes, flanked by ‘homologous’ regions, which match the targeted genetic site. Once inside the cell, this exogenous DNA triggers the cellular machinery that normally repairs broken chromosomes or recombines them during meiosis (the formation of eggs and sperm). Directed by the regions of homology, the repair machinery ‘recombines’ the exogenous DNA into the corresponding chromosomal site. The effect of this sequence change on phenotype can then be assessed.

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Figure 1: Gene targeting in Drosophila.

References

  1. Adams, M. D. et al. Science 287, 2185– 2195 (2000).

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  1. Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Dr Bohr-Gasse 7, Vienna, A-1030, Austria

    Barry J. Dickson

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  1. Barry J. Dickson
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Correspondence to Barry J. Dickson.

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Dickson, B. Reverse gear for Drosophila. Nature 405, 896–897 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35016186

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35016186

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