There are a number of other eye pigmentation mutants characterized by the fly community that could potentially also be glycerol hypersensitive. However the exact size of this group of glycerol hypersensitive mutants remains unknown. Whether these proteins all function in the same desiccation response Ruxolitinib pathway and how glycerol kinase fits into this pathway remains to be elucidated. To determine the significance of these results in relation to glycerol kinase deficiency in humans will require further research in mammalian systems. We Paclitaxel Microtubule inhibitor hypothesize that genetic variation in the human homologues of Drosophila eye pigmentation genes could play an important role in the phenotypic variation observed in human GKD patients. Mutations in human homologues of the white ABC transporter family cause sitosterolemia and it has been suggested that heterozygous variants in ABC gene mutations are implicated in several complex disorders. Mutations at the GK locus cause GKD in humans. However, much remains to be understood about the underlying pathogenic mechanism and why such a wide range of phenotype severity is observed. Additionally, a role for GK alternative functions and modifier loci has still to be fully explored. Using our glycerol hypersensitive Drosophila model for GKD, we have found evidence showing an important role for eye pigmentation genes in determining phenotype severity. Future work will expand the glycerol hypersensitive modifier screen with the aim of identifying novel modifiers and confirm whether they are conserved between insects and mammalian systems. We conclude that RNAi targeting of dGyk and dGK in Drosophila is a valid model for the study of GKD and has the potential to identify genetic modifier loci that could help unravel the complexity of the pathogenic mechanism observed in GKD patients. Although the pathogen responsible for human influenza virus infection was described over 70 years ago, ����our understanding of the transmission of influenza���� has recently been characterized as ����woefully inadequate����. The US Department of Health and Human Services Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan concluded that the relative importance for influenza transmission of direct contact, large droplet, and airborne small particles is not known. Two recent reviews in respected journals reached opposite conclusions about how influenza is transmitted. After reviewing the same epidemiology, animal model, and case study data, one review classified influenza as an opportunistically, and only rarely, airborne transmitted disease while the other review suggested that influenza is preferentially or obligatorily airborne transmitted. An Institute of Medicine report in 2007 stated that the ����paucity of definitive data on influenza transmission is a critical gap in the knowledge base needed to develop and implement effective prevention strategies����.