Figure 2.

Advantages of Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism to investigate PD. D. melanogaster offers numerous advantages as a model organism for the study of PD-related features. (A) Fruit flies share many of the human genes involved in PD, allowing the generation of PD-mutant organisms which can then be investigated through different approaches; (B) longevity; (C) evaluation of dopaminergic (DA) cell loss; (D) locomotor defects, e.g., evaluated by climbing; (E) response to PD-toxins and therapeutic compounds and (F) ROS levels. The picture in (C) was produced in our laboratory by generating flies that overexpress GFP in DA neurons via TH-GAL4 driver. The picture in (F) was adapted from Reference [62].