An excellent example of using the full complement of Drosophila tools to study a viral pathogen was carried out by Cherry and colleagues, who showed that fly cells can be infected with VSV. VSV can replicate in these cells to generate mature viral particles that can infect mammalian cells. They showed that infection of adult flies with VSV induces autophagy (Shelly et al., 2009) and that autophagy was mediated by VSV-G, a pathogen surface protein that is recognized by Drosophila cells. The authors found that induction of autophagy plays an important role in protecting against VSV infection and then asked what host pathways might mediate the autophagy response to VSV. A variety of elegant genetic epistasis experiments demonstrated that the PI3K-Akt pathway was attenuated by VSV infection, thereby relieving its constitutive (Guichard et al., 2010) . WT, wild type. (B)Analyze mechanisms of toxin action. The Notch-like phenotypes caused by expression of LF or EF in the wing both result from inhibition of endocytic recycling of membrane cargo to the AJ by the exocyst complex. EF acts by reducing the levels and activity of the Rab11 GTPase, which indirectly results in a loss of large vesicles containing its binding partner Sec15-GFP, a component of the exocyst complex. LF does not seem to alter Rab11 levels or function, but inhibits the formation of large Sec15 vesicles (Guichard et al., 2010) . (C)Validate toxin mechanism in vertebrates. Human brain microvascular endothelial cells were treated with purified EF toxin or LF toxin. As in fly cells, both toxins greatly reduce the number of Sec15-GFP vesicles in these cells and reduce cadherin expression (Guichard et al., 2010) . (D)Examine interactions between toxins. Cooperative interactions between toxins or other virulence factors can be assessed by co-expressing them in specific cells and comparing the effects of both toxins to that of the action of either toxin alone. In the example shown, anthrax toxins were expressed alone or in combination using a weak GAL4 driver to express low levels of the toxins. Each panel consists of an adult wing (top) and a larval wing imaginal disc showing expression of the Notch target gene wingless (wg) along the future edge of wing in third instar larvae (bottom). Expression of LF or EF alone (+LF or +EF, respectively) has little or no effect on formation of the wing margin (compared with WT). When LF and EF are co-expressed, the wing margin virtually disappears, as does expression of wg along the primordium of the wing margin. (E)In vivo structure-function analysis of toxins. The systemic activities of mutant forms of toxins or other virulence factors can be assessed in Drosophila. Such activities include cell-non-autonomous effects mediated by intercellular signaling systems, which are difficult to screen for in cell culture. In the simple case shown in this panel, high levels of LF expression lead to reduced wing size (middle panel) and a single point mutation in the LF catalytic domain renders it inactive (right panel). Panels A-D adapted from Guichard et al. (Guichard et al., 2010) with permission. Panel E adapted from Guichard et al. (Guichard et al., 2006) , with permission.