The fly facility in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Bilkent University was established in collaboration with the laboratory of Prof. Ergi Deniz Ozsoy at Hacettepe University, in September 2022. It is currently composed of around 200 transgenic and wild type Drosophila melanogaster fly lines.
Fruit fly D. melanogaster is a widely used model organism in biological research. The ease of handling and maintenance, short life cycle, highly annotated genome, relatively complex body plan and simple genetics to address basic questions of development, differentiation, and metabolism make them a valuable model. There is a plethora of techniques to modify and manipulate the genome and epigenome at the right time and space to understand the intricacies of nuclear, cellular, and morphological interactions. We use genome engineering techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9 and recombination mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) to modify Drosophila genome. In addition, we have adapted embryo in situ and immune staining techniques, larva cuticle preparations for morphological analyses and working on adapting embryo live imaging to be used as a routine technology in our laboratories. We are also working on establishing a microinjection setup to generate transgenic flies in house.
