FlyBase:New to Flies
FlyBase is a database of genetic and molecular data for D. melanogaster and other Drosophila species, targeted to an audience of research professionals. The resources listed here may be especially useful to those new to flies.
For a quick look at answers to common issues, check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Learning how to use Drosophila
A basic introduction to Drosophila can be found at these websites:
- An introduction to Drosophila melanogaster
- Drosophila Workers Unite! A laboratory manual for working with Drosophila
- Fly Basics, from the Fly Research Portal
- FlyMove: Images and movies describing Drosophila development
Online books:
- Experiments with Drosophila for Biology Courses, eds. SC Lakhotia and HA Ranganath, 2nd edition: features 118 protocols commonly used in Drosophila labs, for use by both undergraduate labs and researchers (also hosted by FlyBase here)
- Drosophila melanogaster - Model for Recent Advances in Genetics and Therapeutics, ed. FK Perveen: a disease model centered introduction to Drosophila
- The Encyclopedia of North American Drosophilids Volume 1: Drosophilids of the Midwest and Northeast, eds. T Werner, T Steenwinkel, and J Jaenike.
The Manchester Fly Facility has a large compendium of Drosophila-related links for the public, educators, and students. These include information on Drosophila as a model system, general fly-related info, Drosophila movies and images, fly-related equipment, tools, and materials, information for teaching Drosophila at schools and universities, and the history of Drosophila research.
On our Twitter @FlyBaseDotOrg, we post Tweetorials: threads that provide a guide to a feature, resource, or tool at FlyBase. You can view the Tweetorial index on the wiki here, or see them directly on Twitter using the hashtag #FlyBaseTweetorial.
Learning Drosophila genetics
Online guides:
- How to Design a Genetic Mating Scheme: A Basic Training Package for Drosophila Genetics: a four-part training package available from John Roote and Andreas Prokop, including topics like binary expression systems (UAS GAL4), clone generation methods (MARCM, germline clones), enhancer and protein trap lines, P-elements, deletion mapping, and more.
- An Introduction to Balancers: from the BDSC
- Descriptions of the core genetic components of balancer stocks at BDSC and balancer stocks at Kyoto Stock Center
Computer-simulated genetic experiments can be performed at the following sites:
- Drosophila Simulation ------- Patterns of Heredity
- Virtual Courseware for Inquiry-based Science Education - Drosophila
External Resources on the FlyBase Wiki
We have an extensive collection of links to external sites, organized by topic on our External Resources page, including things like:
- Where to obtain many kinds of genetic reagents: stocks, cell lines, genomic clones, antibodies, and more
- Drosophila protocols: categorized at the DRSC Functional Genomics Resources site
- Image-based resources: including both databases of Drosophila images (anatomy guides, expression from endogenous genes and reporters), and software for image analysis and processing
- Links to technical guides, analysis tools, and reagents for working with CRISPR, single-cell RNA-seq, and RNAi
- Drosophila neuroscience: items from the above categories that are specific to neuroscience
- Drosophila Online Resources: includes many more types of resources, such as orthology predictions, transcription regulation databases, genomes of other Drosophilids, and many more
How to use FlyBase
FlyBase FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
All of FlyBase's publications and presentations are on our wiki, and are a great starting place for learning how to use more of FlyBase's features.
If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact FlyBase directly.
Social media and online groups
Twitter accounts: see our account at @FlyBaseDotOrg, and check out other accounts that it follows, like the Alliance for Genome Resources @alliancegenome.
The Alliance User Community Forums include fly-specific discussions, as well as job posting, positions wanted, and meeting announcement forums.
Archive of the bionet.drosophila discussion group: for a historical perspective of 26 years of Drosophila discussion online.