Abstract:
The circulatory/cardiovascular system is the first organ system to develop and
function in a vertebrate embryo. The vertebrate cardiovascular system, made up of the
heart, blood and the vessels performs the functions of oxygen supply and waste
metabolite removal. A functional circulatory system is essential for development of any
multicellular organism (Maltepe and Simon 1998). Many model organisms such as
mouse, zebrafish, chick embryo and Drosophila melanogaster have been extensively
used to study conserved molecules and mechanisms involved in cardiovascular
development. The basic principles and the regulatory mechanisms of the circulatory
system can be better understood by a comparative approach and drawing parallels across
vertebrate and invertebrates. Drosophila melanogaster has been extensively used as a
model organism to understand various developmental processes and hence has been a
model of choice due to a) the availability of a completely sequenced genome, b) a wealth
of genetic information, c) the ability to manipulate gene expression and d) a high degree
of conservation (60%) of genes responsible for human diseases (Dow 2003a; Dow
2003b).
