Flies are fighting the flu
Flu and other viruses are a problem not only for humans but also for fruit flies. Now, thanks to flies we can take a step forward in understanding how viruses infect humans. An international collaborative study published in 2008 (Hao et al., 2008) by Yoshihiro Kawaoka’s laboratory from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, helped us understand what genes are important to fight viral infections.
Hao and colleagues used the power of genetics to understand what fly genes were important for the flu virus to infect and replicate. Genetic tools enable us to block nearly every one of the fly’s 14000 genes through RNA interference, a technique for which won its discoverer, Craig C. Mello, a Nobel prize in 2006. Hao and colleagues created a variant of the flu virus capable of infecting fly cells, and systematically checked all genes, to find some that would be required for the flu virus to replicate.
The authors found a total of 100 genes were required. Among these, they found 3 that are highly conserved in humans, such as ATP6V0D1, COX6A1 and NXF1. The study found that these genes were also required for flu replication in human cells! Moreover, these were specific for flu virus and not other type of viruses.
Overall, this study shows the feasibility of using fly genetics to study the response to human viruses and provides an extensive list of 100 genes that could be investigated in this context to develop new drugs for additional protection against flu.
Citation: Hao, L. et al. (2008) ‘Drosophila RNAi screen identifies host genes important for influenza virus replication’, Nature, 454(7206), pp. 890–893. doi: 10.1038/nature07151.
Hao and colleagues used the power of genetics to understand what fly genes were important for the flu virus to infect and replicate. Genetic tools enable us to block nearly every one of the fly’s 14000 genes through RNA interference, a technique for which won its discoverer, Craig C. Mello, a Nobel prize in 2006. Hao and colleagues created a variant of the flu virus capable of infecting fly cells, and systematically checked all genes, to find some that would be required for the flu virus to replicate.
The authors found a total of 100 genes were required. Among these, they found 3 that are highly conserved in humans, such as ATP6V0D1, COX6A1 and NXF1. The study found that these genes were also required for flu replication in human cells! Moreover, these were specific for flu virus and not other type of viruses.
Overall, this study shows the feasibility of using fly genetics to study the response to human viruses and provides an extensive list of 100 genes that could be investigated in this context to develop new drugs for additional protection against flu.
Citation: Hao, L. et al. (2008) ‘Drosophila RNAi screen identifies host genes important for influenza virus replication’, Nature, 454(7206), pp. 890–893. doi: 10.1038/nature07151.