Optical pacing is a promising alternative to electrical pacing in basic cardiovascular research. Compared with electrical pacing, noninvasive stimulation of cardiac tissue with light can control cardiac function with high spatial and temporal accuracy in vivo. Creative BioMart developed transgenic Drosophila melanogaster expressing photogated cation channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2). After the ChR2 protein sequence is inserted into the Drosophila genome, it can be located in the heart of Drosophila. The ChR2-expressing Drosophila can be successful optogenetic paced at different developmental stages, including the larva, pupa, and adult stages. The model can be used to understand the mechanism of arrhythmia and develop new treatment strategies.

Justification for Selecting the Pacing Drosophila Model

Using this strain, researchers can realize cardiac optogenetic pacing. This non-invasive photogenetic pacing technology provides the possibility of longitudinal pacing in Drosophila in vivo, which can become a powerful research tool for the study of heart diseases related to cardiac development and function without sacrificing specimens. This provides great potential for developing a new class of experiments in developmental cardiology to understand the mechanism of arrhythmia and develop new treatment strategies for various heart diseases.

Potential Applications

Drosophila has many similarities with vertebrates in the early stage of heart development and the potential genetic mechanisms regulating heart function.

Appropriate light stimulation of this strain of Drosophila melanogaster can noninvasively control its rhythm at different developmental stages in the mature cardiovascular model organism D. melanogaster.

Quantification of cardiac dynamic parameters. By analyzing the relative time between stimulation pulse and cardiac contraction, we can further understand the cardiac dynamics and physiology of Drosophila at different developmental stages.

Quantitative characterization of cardiac dynamic parameters can study the changes of these parameters in different developmental stages of Drosophila. It proves the feasibility of optogenetic pacing in different developmental stages

It provides a basis for the research of light driven cardiac pacemaker and muscle actuator in large animal models in the future.

Fly Facility

We have advanced Drosophila management and maintenance facilities. The facility manages and maintains hundreds of different Drosophila genetic strains and provides a range of technical services, including microinjection procedures to create transgenic Drosophila, genetic hybridization and population cages for experiments.

Our facilities include the main room for Drosophila genetics and breeding, microinjection kit and temperature control room for medium and long-term storage of Drosophila strains.

The team provides technical training for researchers, such as using microscopes and carbon dioxide equipment, and determining the sex of flies.

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