Advances in Drosophila gene targeting and related techniques

Abstract

Functional biological research has benefited tremendously by analyses of the phenotypes of mutant organisms which can be generated through targeted mutation of genes. In Drosophila, compared with random mutagenesis methods gene targeting has gained its popularity because it can introduce any desired mutation into a gene of interest. However, applications of gene targeting have been limited because the targeting efficiency varies with different genes, and the time and labor of targeting procedure are intensive. Nevertheless, improvement of gene targeting and development of its variant technologies have received much attention of scientists. Here we review recent progress that has been made in expanding the applications of gene targeting, which include the ФC31 integration system and zinc-finger nucleases induced gene targeting, and new strategies that generate more efficient and reliable gene targeting.

Key words： gene targeting; ends-in; ends-out; ФC31 integration system; zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs); homologous recombination (HR); Drosophila melanogaster

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