This is a selection of papers introducing iron biology in Drosophila
Classic electron microscopy results showing ferritin:
Locke, M.; Leung, H. The induction and distribution of an insect ferritin—A new function for the endoplasmic reticulum. Tissue Cell 1984, 16, 739–766.
Iron regulatory protein is conserved:
Rothenberger, S.; Mullner, E.W.; Kuhn, L.C. The mRNA-binding protein which controls ferritin and transferrin receptor expression is conserved during evolution. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990, 18, 1175–1179.
Molecular cloning of ferritin H chain:
Charlesworth, A.; Georgieva, T.; Gospodov, I.; Law, J.H.; Dunkov, B.C.; Ralcheva, N.; Barillas-Mury, C.; Ralchev, K.; Kafatos, F.C. Isolation and properties of Drosophila melanogaster ferritin—Molecular cloning of a cDNA that encodes one subunit, and localization of the gene on the third chromosome. Eur. J. Biochem. 1997, 247, 470–475.
Molecular cloning of IRPs:
Muckenthaler, M.; Gunkel, N.; Frishman, D.; Cyrklaff, A.; Tomancak, P.; Hentze, M.W. Iron-regulatory protein-1 (IRP-1) is highly conserved in two invertebrate species—Characterization of IRP-1 homologues in Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Eur. J. Biochem. 1998, 254, 230–237.
Our understanding of iron metabolism in insects at the beginning of the new millennium:
Nichol, H.; Law, J.H.; Winzerling, J.J. Iron metabolism in insects. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2002, 47, 535–559.
Crystal structure of a lepidopteran ferritin:
Hamburger, A.E.; West, A.P., Jr.; Hamburger, Z.A.; Hamburger, P.; Bjorkman, P.J. Crystal structure of a secreted insect ferritin reveals a symmetrical arrangement of heavy and light chains. J. Mol. Biol. 2005, 349, 558–569.
First clear demonstration for a role of iron in Drosophila immunity:
Chamilos, G.; Lewis, R.E.; Hu, J.; Xiao, L.; Zal, T.; Gilliet, M.; Halder, G.; Kontoyiannis, D.P. Drosophila melanogaster as a model host to dissect the immunopathogenesis of zygomycosis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2008, 105, 9367–9372.
First clear demonstration for a role of iron in spermatogenesis:
Metzendorf, C.; Lind, M.I. Drosophila mitoferrin is essential for male fertility: Evidence for a role of mitochondrial iron metabolism during spermatogenesis. BMC Dev. Biol. 2010, 10, 68.
A role for melanotransferrin in septate junctions?
Tiklova, K.; Senti, K.A.; Wang, S.; Graslund, A.; Samakovlis, C. Epithelial septate junction assembly relies on melanotransferrin iron binding and endocytosis in Drosophila. Nat. Cell Biol. 2010, 12, 1071–1077.
A transporter for iron into the Endoplasmic Reticulum?
Xiao, G.; Wan, Z.; Fan, Q.; Tang, X.; Zhou, B. The metal transporter ZIP13 supplies iron into the secretory pathway in Drosophila melanogaster. Elife. 2014, 3, e03191.
Nuclear IRP1A down regulates genes encoding for iron-requiring proteins
Huynh, N., Ou, Q., Cox, P., Lill, R., King-Jones, K. Glycogen branching enzyme controls cellular iron homeostasis via Iron Regulatory Protein 1 and mitoNEET. Nat Commun. 2019, 10, 5463.