Figure 1.

Drosophila can be used either to validate candidate drugs or in combinatorial drug assessment assays to identify synergistic drug combinations. Flies have significant similarities with humans enabling a facile and cost effective assessment of anti-infective drugs during the interaction of microbes with a host. Hits selected from in vitro or in silico chemical screens can be further screened in Drosophila survival or microbial colonization assays to select drug candidates that will have a higher success rate in preclinical trials. In addition, natural products, for example, microbial secondary metabolites and drugs approved in humans can be tested for the fist time combinatorially in flies to identify synergistic effects between two or more chemicals.