RNAi screen focused on chaperone function in the fly eye

Raut S, Mallik B, Parichha A, V A, Sahi C, Kumar V. RNAi-Mediated Reverse Genetic Screen Identified Drosophila Chaperones Regulating Eye and Neuromuscular Junction Morphology. G3 (Bethesda). 2017 May 12. pii: g3.117.041632. PMID: 28500055.

From the abstract: "Accumulation of toxic proteins in neurons have been linked with the onset of neurodegenerative diseases ... Molecular chaperones help protein folding and resolubilization of unfolded proteins thereby reducing the protein aggregation stress. While most of the chaperones are expressed in neurons, their functional relevance largely remains unknown. Here, using bioinformatics analysis, we identified 95 Drosophila chaperones and classified them into seven different classes. Ubiquitous actin5C-Gal4 mediated RNAi knockdown revealed that about 50% of the chaperones are essential in Drosophila[.] Knocking down these genes in eyes revealed that about 30% of the essential chaperones are crucial for eye development. ..."