Quote of the Week: Flu & Flying

What I recommend people [in airplanes] do is turn the overhead air releaser on to a low stream and position it so the flow goes in front of your face. That will increase the ventilation, at minimal, create a turbulence of air in front of your face. If a particle is coming by, that might be enough to push it out of the way.

M. Gendreau, Tufts University & Lahey Clinic

in When Flu Flies (Newsweek) April 27, 2009

Flies & Flu

With today's news on my mind, I searched for "Drosophila" and "flu" today at PubMed and that led me to: Hao et al. (2008) Drosophila RNAi screen indentifies host genes important for influenza virus replication. Nature 454:890-893. Protocol Notes: Screened in D-Mel2 cells with Ambion dsRNAs. Follow-up in mammalian cells using siRNAs.

Web Wednesday--P[acman] BAC fly resource

Recently learned about a new resource, Drosophila BAC libraries in a vector system for recombineering and transgenesis. Information on-line. Rumor has it a paper by Venken et al. is in press at Nature Methods.

Learn more about the resource on-line here:

http://www.pacmanfly.org/

Breaking Report: A Look at Centromeres

What am I reading today? Another paper that reports results from a genome-wide study performed at the DRSC: Erhardt et al. (2008) Genome-wide analysis reveals a cell cycle-dependent mechanism controlling centromere propagation. JCB 183(5):805-818.

The authors describe the results of a full-genome screen for factors that disrupt the normal localization of CENP-A (CID). Protocol Notes: A fluorescence image-based screen assay in Kc167 cells. The authors provide a nicely detailed description of the screening protocol, including info on image analysis, in the Materials & Methods section. Follow-up includes time-lapse and additional imaging in S2 cells and fly embryos. Plus IP from Kc167 cells.

Quote of the Week: Spring is for Gardening

Have you a pond in your garden? If not, why not think about making one? ... If you do this you won't have to spend much time gardening, and you will have so much more time to watch insects! ... You will not need to find insects to put in your pond; they will come by themselves.

From The Insects in Your Garden, Harold Oldroyd, 1976, Kestrel Books

Breaking Report--DRSC Screen Data Published

What's on my desk to read today?  

Sessions et al. (2009) Discovery of insect and human dengue virus host factors. Nature 458:1047-1050. And see Editor's Note in the same issue of the journal.

This screen was performed at the DRSC using our whole-genome dsRNA library.

In the paper, the authors report the results of the Drosophila screen. Plus follow-up in human cells--they used siRNAs to target homologs of the fly genes they identified--and in the dengue virus vector mosquito Ae. aegypti--which they inject with dsRNA. The authors report "notable conservation of required factors between dipteran [fly & mosquito] and human hosts."

Using RNAi in three species to get closer to combating an infectious disease endemic in three continents and for which there is currently no vaccine or cure? Pretty darned cool.

Rumor Has It ...

A new section in Genetics? I'm anxiously awaiting the May issue for an announcement.