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Published June 18, 1999 | public
Journal Article

Preventing Neurodegeneration in the Drosophila Mutant bubblegum

Abstract

The Drosophila melanogaster recessive mutantbubblegum (bgm) exhibits adult neurodegeneration, with marked dilation of photoreceptor axons. The bubblegummutant shows elevated levels of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs), as seen in the human disease adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). In ALD, the excess can be lowered by dietary treatment with "Lorenzo's oil," a mixture of unsaturated fatty acids. Feeding the fly mutant one of the components, glyceryl trioleate oil, blocked the accumulation of excess VLCFAs as well as development of the pathology. Mutant flies thus provide a potential model system for studying mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease and screening drugs for treatment.

Additional Information

© 1999 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 25 January 1999; accepted 29 April 1999. We thank R. Young, C. Kang, and A. Gomez for expert technical support and members of our research group for helpful discussions. Supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Dell Webb Foundation (K.-T.M.) and by grants (S.B.) from NSF, NIH, and the James G. Boswell Foundation.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023