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3D Fruit Fly images to Benefit Brain Research : 2007
The fragile head and brain of a fly are not easy things to examine but MRC scientists have figured out how to make it a little simpler. And they hope their research will shed light on human disease. Using an imaging technique called optical projection tomography (OPT) they have generated startling 3D images of the inside of a fruit fly for the first time. The OPT images could help to speed up genetic research into Alzheimer’s and other human diseases that affect brain cells.
Dr Mary O’Connell of the MRC Human Genetics Unit who led the research explained: ‘‘Neurodegeneration, the gradual loss of function of brain cells that occurs in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and motor neurone diseases, isn’t a strictly human phenomenon. Insects are affected by it too. In the autumn, bees and wasps often develop erratic behaviour before they die.’’
Because the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and human share many genes with similar functions, the fly is widely used by genetic researchers to study how genes influence human disease.
‘‘It’s already known that defects in the equivalent fly genes involved in human brain diseases cause brain cells in fruit flies to lose function as they age,’’ Dr O’Connell continued.
OPT could help researchers to look at how the fly brain changes in response to alterations in the normal activity of a specific gene without the risk of damaging tissue through dissection.
In a paper published in PLoS ONE, the team describes how they have already used the technique to image individual cavities within the brain of an ageing fly and see the brain deteriorate.
MRC PhD student Leeanne McGurk who captured many of the OPT images explained why the technique works: ‘‘The dark colour of the fly exoskeleton prevents us from seeing inside it using a standard light microscope. In the past this has meant scientists have had to tease apart fruit fly tissues by hand – a laborious process. Now, we have got over the problem by bleaching the fly exoskeleton. When the fruit fly becomes colourless it is possible to use imaging techniques not only to view its internal organs but to generate 2D and 3D images of the entire fly.’’
Using OPT images in this way will allow scientists to visualise where and how the products of selected genes are present in the fly. These patterns of gene expression, as they are known, will help to identify genes that control parts of the central nervous system and so provide detailed information about the human brain.
Bleaching of the exoskeleton to clear away the colour also allows images to be generated using other microscopic techniques that depend on penetration of light.
Dr O’Connell concluded: ‘‘This research is not simply limited to the study of conditions like Alzheimer’s but can also be used to study fly anatomy. The shape and size of organs can be affected by diseases like diabetes so imaging may yield clues to further our understanding of other conditions too.’’
Original Research Paper: Three-Dimensional Imaging of Drosphila melanogaster by McGurk et al is published online in PLOS One on 5 September 2007. The team at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh collaborated with scientists working on the Systems Biology Program at Centre de REgulacio Genomica, Barcelona, Spain. It can be downloaded from the PLoS ONE website: www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0000834
The Medical Research Council is dedicated to improving human health through excellent science. It invests on behalf of the UK taxpayer. Its work ranges from molecular level science to public health research, carried out in universities, hospitals and a network of its own units and institutes. The MRC liaises with the Health Departments, the National Health Service and industry to take account of the public’s needs. The results have led to some of the most significant discoveries in medical science and benefited the health and wealth of millions of people in the UK and around the world.
NIH Grant Awarded to FitzPatrick Lab: 2007
We have been awarded a $500K supplement to our existing NIDCR (NIH) funded P50 Craniofacial Center Grant. This project is a collaboration between MRC Human Genetics Unit, the University of Iowa and five other centres in the US, UK and South America. The primary aim of this project is to identify and characterise the genes that cause cleft lip and cleft palate.
Dr David FitzPatrick in MRC HGU and Professor Mike Dixon in University of Manchester were funded to develop an atlas of craniofacial development at embryonic stages of relevance to human cleft lip and cleft palate. The supplement is provided to increase the number of genes that will be analysed using OPT imaging in the project and to develop formal links with the electronic atlas of mouse development EMAGE also based in MRC Human Genetics Unit. This project will provide a resource that will be useful to clinicians, scientists and families who are interested in the causes of cleft palate.
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Success for Honours Project Student
Edinburgh University student, Joanna Kennedy, who studied for her honours project at MRC Human Genetics Unit within Veronica van Heyningen's lab, has gone on to achieve a first class honours degree and also the coveted Genetics Prize. Joanna's honours project was studying the "Role of OTX2 in Leber Congenital Amaurosis" a condition which is an inherited retinal dystrophy, causing severe visual impairment in early childhood. We wish Joanna every success in the future.