Validation of Drosophila as a model to identify anti-lipogenic and anti-diabetic compounds.

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In the past decade, obesity has been recognized as an increasing threat to the global health of children and adults, with numerous associated life-threatening complications, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer. Obesity is a complex disorder that is the result of the interaction between predisposing genetic and environmental factors. However, the precise nature of these gene-gene and gene-environment interactions, remain unclear. The Boulianne lab has taken advantage of powerful genetic approaches available in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to identify mutations in genes that give rise to obese flies and to determine how various diets (e.g. high fat and high sugar) affect the phenotypes of obese flies. BioAspect Inc. is a Canadian company whose goal is to provide customers with robust in vitro and in vivo assays that can be used for drug discovery. The goal of the proposed research is to determine whether Drosophila models can be used as an in vivo platform to identify drugs that can be used to treat obesity and diabetes. Specifically, we will use two existing fly models of obesity that have been developed in the Boulianne lab and establish a new model of diabetes by maintaining flies on a high sugar diet. We will then determine whether known anti-diabetic and anti-obesity drugs are effective in Drosophila thereby validating the model for future drug discovery.