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Drosophila melanogaster: A Prime Experimental Model System for Aging Studies

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Abstract

Aging, the process of growing old is largely characterized by gradual deterioration of normal cellular functions, leading to progressive and steady decline in the biological, physical and psychological abilities. The phenomenon of aging is genetically determined and environmentally modulated. This is one of the most common yet mysterious aspects of biological studies, even after being a subject of interest to humans since the beginning of recorded history. Moreover, precise molecular basis of aging remains poorly understood, in part, because we lack a large number of molecular markers which could be used to measure the aging process in specific tissues. Moreover, limitations of human genetics and associated ethical issues further make it difficult to identify or analyze candidate gene(s) and pathways in greater details, and with the fact that the basic biological processes remain conserved throughout phylogeny; model organisms from bacteria to mammals have been utilized to resolve different aspects of aging. Classical model system such as Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as an excellent system to elucidate essential genetic/cellular pathways of human aging, due to its short generation time, availability of powerful genetic tools and functionally conserved physiology. Several key cellular events and signaling cascades have been deciphered by utilizing Drosophila as system of aging research and continues to add novel insights into this complex process. Present article attempts to introduce Drosophila as a model system for aging studies and also provides a brief overview of its decades of contribution in aging research.

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Acknowledgments

Research programmes in the laboratory have been supported by grants from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, New Delhi; DU/DST-PURSE scheme and Delhi University R & D fund to SS. RY, SIC, KR and Nisha are supported by DST-INSPIRE, UGC-SRF, UGC-JRF and DBT-JRF fellowships respectively.

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  1. Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Road, New Delhi, 110021, India

    Renu Yadav, Soram Idiyasan Chanu, Kritika Raj,  Nisha & Surajit Sarkar

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  1. Renu Yadav
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  2. Soram Idiyasan Chanu
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  3. Kritika Raj
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  4. Nisha
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  5. Surajit Sarkar
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Correspondence to Surajit Sarkar .

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  1. School of Life Sciences, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Pramod C. Rath

  2. Department of Biochemistry, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Megalaya, India

    Ramesh Sharma

  3. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Lab, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    S. Prasad

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Yadav, R., Chanu, S.I., Raj, K., Nisha, Sarkar, S. (2017). Drosophila melanogaster: A Prime Experimental Model System for Aging Studies. In: Rath, P., Sharma, R., Prasad, S. (eds) Topics in Biomedical Gerontology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2155-8_1

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