Drosophila as a Model for Exploring Dietary Treatments for Human Amino Acid Metabolism Disorders

Amino acid disorders are rare, inherited, life-threatening conditions. They block body's ability to breakdown amino acids, which are important for energy and growth. Despite knowledge of their causes, most disorders remain without treatment. This thesis explored whether the fruit fly Drosophila can be used as a model to explore dietary treatments for amino acid disorders. Three disorders were investigated and several dietary interventions were tested. This thesis finds that Drosophila models resemble many aspects of the human disorders and responded to dietary changes. This work suggests Drosophila could play a valuable role in finding new treatments.