Georg Dietzl

TL;DR: The generation and validation of a genome-wide library of Drosophila melanogaster RNAi transgenes, enabling the conditional inactivation of gene function in specific tissues of the intact organism and opening up the prospect of systematically analysing gene functions in any tissue and at any stage of the Drosophile lifespan.

TL;DR: The three Drosophila Rac genes, Rac1, Rac2 and Mtl, have overlapping functions in the control of epithelial morphogenesis, myoblast fusion, and axon growth and guidance and are not required for the establishment of planar cell polarity, as had been suggested on the basis of studies using dominant mutant isoforms.

TL;DR: The central role of Rac GTPases in multiple aspects of axon development in vivo is demonstrated, and it is suggested that axon growth, guidance and branching could be controlled by differential activation of Rac signalling pathways.

TL;DR: The use of a library of Drosophila strains expressing inducible hairpin RNAi constructs to study the Notch signalling pathway during external sensory organ development is reported, showing that complex developmental processes can be analysed on a genome-wide level and provide a unique resource for functional annotation of the Drosophile genome.

TL;DR: It is proposed that distinct signals transduced via Trio and Dock act combinatorially to activate Pak in spatially restricted domains within the growth cone, thereby controlling the direction of axon extension.