TY - JOUR
T1 - A fly's eye view of zinc homeostasis
T2 - novel insights into the genetic control of zinc metabolism from Drosophila
AU - Richards, Christopher D.
AU - Burke, Richard
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - The core zinc transport machinery is well conserved between invertebrates and mammals, with the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster having clear homologues of all major groups of mammalian ZIP and ZNT transport genes. Functional characterization of several of the fly genes has revealed functional conservation between related fly and mammalian zinc transporters in some but not all cases, indicating that Drosophila is a useful model for examining mammalian zinc metabolism. Furthermore, Drosophila research, sometimes quite serendipitously, has provided novel insights into the function of zinc transporters and into zinc-related pathologies, which are highlighted here. Finally, the future research potential of the fly in nutrient metabolism is explored, with reference to emerging experimental technologies.
AB - The core zinc transport machinery is well conserved between invertebrates and mammals, with the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster having clear homologues of all major groups of mammalian ZIP and ZNT transport genes. Functional characterization of several of the fly genes has revealed functional conservation between related fly and mammalian zinc transporters in some but not all cases, indicating that Drosophila is a useful model for examining mammalian zinc metabolism. Furthermore, Drosophila research, sometimes quite serendipitously, has provided novel insights into the function of zinc transporters and into zinc-related pathologies, which are highlighted here. Finally, the future research potential of the fly in nutrient metabolism is explored, with reference to emerging experimental technologies.
KW - Drosophila
KW - Ion transport
KW - Zinc homeostasis
KW - ZIP
KW - ZNT
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994444333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.abb.2016.07.015
DO - 10.1016/j.abb.2016.07.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84994444333
SN - 0003-9861
VL - 611
SP - 142
EP - 149
JO - Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
JF - Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
ER -