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The study of model organisms has been instrumental towards the elucidation of the basic mechanisms of human biology. Drosophila melanogaster has been the target of extensive genetic analyses over the past 90 years and a notable amount of information is known about its gene structure, gene regulation and gene function. The vast gene resource generated by the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) efforts was exploited to identify, using a bioinformatic approach, novel human and murine gene transcripts homologous to Drosophila mutant genes. A systematic characterization of these genes, named Drosophila-related expressed sequences (DRES), was performed including genomic mapping in human and mouse and detailed study of their expression pattern by RNA in situ hybridization experiments. Comparison between DRES genes and their putative partners in Drosophila contributes to the understanding of their function in mammals and to the discovery of their possible role in disease.

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