New technology makes studying gene function easier, faster and more effective

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine say it is now easier, faster, and more effective to study the role of genes in basic biology and disease

The researchers introduced the basic principles of this new technology and its application examples in the "Cell Report"

"The laboratory fruit fly is a widely used animal model to study functional genes and mutant biological processes in health and disease," said first author Dr.

In order to study the function of a particular gene, researchers first introduced it into thousands of fruit flies, and then screened the flies to determine which flies had successfully implanted the gene

"This process has worked well for many years, but a major drawback is that looking at thousands of flies under a microscope to find a specific physical feature can be very tedious and time-consuming," Baylor University Verna and Marrs Mclean Biology Assistant Professor Venken of the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology said that he is also the co-corresponding author of the study

"In the current work, we have developed a systematic study of drug marker gene selection or counter-selection that significantly improves the screening process," said Dr.

Simple selection and laborious screening

The idea behind this new technology is to use another gene to mark the gene of interest, rather than a physical feature to make the flies resistant or sensitive to specific drugs

Experiments using drug resistance tags to select fruit flies carrying genes of interest will involve, first, introducing the research gene and related drug resistance tags into the fruit flies, and then exposing all the flies to drugs that have been added to their food

Martinian said: "This simpler and more effective strategy saves a lot of time and allows researchers to improve their work efficiency

Other types of experiments may benefit from counter-selection strategies that use drug sensitivity labels

"I think counter-selection will be very useful for scientists who study a gene, and want to make many modifications to the same gene to study and change its function," said Venken, assistant professor of pharmacology and chemical biology, Dan Duncan L Comprehensive Cancer Center A member of McNair Scholar

"In terms of time, I estimate that this new technology is at least 10 times faster than traditional methods," Dierick said

Matinyan said: "We hope this work provides a framework to accelerate the transition from the laboratory to the bedside

The main paper described here has a companion publication, a step-by-step guide to the techniques of how to use these labels and drugs and apply them to specific projects

Martinian said: "The program includes the specific details of how to use existing equipment to apply this technology in the researcher's laboratory

DOI

10.

Multiplexed drug-based selection and counterselection genetic manipulations in Drosophila