Investigators at the University of Chicago employed the common house fly (Drosophila) as a model system for determining how genetic mutations in the neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) gene disrupt its function. Dr. Richard Fehon and his colleagues, including David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD at the Washington University NF Center, used Drosophila to test whether the normal human NF2 gene as well as patient-derived NF2 gene mutations could rescue defects observed in flies lacking Nf2 gene function. Their exciting findings were recently reported in the journal PLoS One.
The use of Drosophila as a model organism offers many opportunities to understand how the NF2 gene functions in the intact animal.
Gavilan HS, Kulikauskas RM, Gutmann DH, Fehon RG. In vivo functional analysis of the human NF2 tumor suppressor gene in drosophila. PLoS ONE. (in press)NF2 Flies