From Yeast to Worms and Flies: Simple Model Organisms to Decode Neurological Pathology and Advance Therapeutics

Neurological diseases represent a broad and growing class of disorders, whose prevalence is expected to rise in the coming years due to population aging and potentially environmental factors such as pollution. They encompass a wide range of conditions, including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders, neurodegenerative diseases (themselves a heterogeneous group), cerebellar ataxias, cerebrovascular diseases, and neurodevelopmental disorders.Despite their clinical diversity, these disorders often share common altered cellular and molecular mechanisms. This is particularly evident in neurodegenerative diseases, where converging pathological processes include mitochondrial dysfunction, altered RNA metabolism, Ca²⁺ dyshomeostasis, genomic instability, and oxidative stress. Identifying which of these mechanisms are disrupted is crucial for the development of effective gene-based and targeted therapies.Simple model organisms play a central role in this effort. Systems such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast), Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly), and Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode) allow researchers to investigate the consequences of gene expression or loss of orthologous genes in tractable, cost-effective platforms. Their genetic accessibility, short life cycles, and conserved molecular pathways make them powerful tools to dissect fundamental disease mechanisms across evolution.At the same time, the limitations of these simple models will also be addressed — particularly their reduced ability to fully recapitulate the complexity of the human nervous system and the higher-order interactions that characterize neurological diseases.This Research Topic aims, on the one hand, to showcase how yeast, Drosophila, and C. elegans can be used to uncover the basic mechanisms underlying neurological diseases, and on the other, to illustrate how they can accelerate the development of novel therapeutic strategies for these devastating conditions.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Methods, and Perspectives that leverage yeast and invertebrate models to advance our understanding of neurological pathology and pave the way toward translational applications. This Research Topic focuses, but is not limited, to:o Model organisms & disease modelling: S. cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, C. elegans, invertebrate models, genetic screens, humanised modelso Neurological conditions: neurodegeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, cerebellar ataxia, epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, neurodevelopmental disorders, cerebrovascular diseaseo Cellular & molecular mechanisms: mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, Ca²⁺ dyshomeostasis, RNA metabolism, protein aggregation, proteostasis, genomic instability, autophagy, neuroinflammationo Genetics & genomics: orthologous gene function, loss-of-function models, gain-of-function models, CRISPR, gene expression regulation, epigeneticso Therapeutics & translation: gene therapy, targeted therapy, drug screening, therapeutic targets, small molecules, neuroprotection, translational modelso Evolutionary conservation: conserved pathways, cross-species comparison, evolutionary biology of neurological disease Topic editors: Caterina Peggion, Xiaolin Tian, Khursheed A. Wani Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80894/from-yeast-to-worms-and-flies-simple-model-organisms-to-decode-neurological-pathology-and-advance-therapeutics