BASIC METHODS FOR DROSOPHILA MUSCLE BIOLOGY

Muscle is one of the most abundant Drosophila tissues and one of the most amenable to cell biological investigations. The purpose of this chapter is to avail fly muscle research to the cell biological community by briefly recapitulating its history and then offering a collection of protocols that will enable readers to do their own exploring. The chapter reviews the basic biology and genetics of Drosophila muscles. Accurate assessment of muscle integrity can be made using polarized light microscopy. Because the expression of basic helix-loop-helix and homeodomain proteins is for the most part transient, other markers must be used to follow postfusion stages of Drosophila muscle differentiation. Most methods that are in current use involve staining for β-galactosidase activity. There are several enzymes whose activity can be examined histochemically in muscle fibers. The most useful activity, staining for myosin Ca2+ adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), can be done on cryostat sections. Muscle development can be studied readily in the embryo by examining whole mounts stained with antibodies or by histochemistry. © 1994, Elsevier Science Publishers, B.V.