# Expansion and characterization of the Drosophila Toolkit to study SARS-CoV-2

> **NIH NIH R24** · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $398,040

## Abstract

Project Summary
SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for the global COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to acute symptoms such as
respiratory failure and other flu-like symptoms, this virus has been more recently implicated in numerous chronic
symptoms, which are collectively referred to as Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC, also known as ‘long
COVID’). Many symptoms of PASC are related to the nervous system, such as cognitive dysfunction, brain fog,
memory loss, sensory problems, depression, anxiety and insomnia. Compared to our understanding on how
SARS-CoV-2 causes severe acute symptoms of COVID-19, the mechanism by which this virus causes PACS is
not well understood. To facilitate the study of COVID-19 and PASC, we have been generating three types of
genetic reagents in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The first is a collection of transgenic flies that allows
conditional expression of single viral proteins in a cell-type or time specific manner. The second is a series of
transgenic flies that allows conditional expression of individual human proteins that have been found to physically
interact with one of the SARS-CoV-2 proteins. The third is a collection of versatile gene-trap lines that allow one
to investigate the loss-of-function phenotype and expression pattern of the fly gene that correspond to one of the
SARS-CoV-2 human interactors. Scientists can combine these three types of reagents to perform sophisticated
experiments to study whether the viral and human proteins functionally interact in a living organism, or whether
the function of the homologous genes in fly and human share the same molecular function in vivo. In this study,
we propose to further expand our research toolkit to complete the collection. In addition, we will perform in vivo
characterization of the reagents generated so far to provide phenotypic and gene expression information to
facilitate the use of these reagents in the research community. These genetic tools are or will be publicly available
through the Drosophila Bloomington Stock Center and the information collected will be documented in FlyBase.
This collection of transgenic and mutant flies will greatly facilitate the in vivo characterization of proteins encoded
in the SARS-CoV-2 genome and its interactors,. It will therefore provide valuable information to combat COVID-
19 and PASC.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10596942
- **Project number:** 3R24OD022005-07S1
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** HUGO J BELLEN
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $398,040
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10596942

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10596942, Expansion and characterization of the Drosophila Toolkit to study SARS-CoV-2 (3R24OD022005-07S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10596942. Licensed CC0.

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