Abstract
The balance between self-renewal and differentiation must be tightly regulated in somatic stem cells to ensure proper tissue generation and to prevent tumorlike overgrowth. A Drosophila larval brain lobe consists of the central brain and the optic lobe and possesses three well-defined neural stem cell lineages that generate differentiated cells in a highly reproducible pattern. Unambiguous identification of various cell types in these stem cell lineages is pivotal for studying the regulation of neural stem cells and progenitor cells at a single-cell resolution. This chapter will describe the methodology for collection and processing of larval brains for examination by fluorescence confocal microscopy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sousa-Nunes R, Cheng LY, Gould AP (2010) Regulating neural proliferation in the Drosophila CNS. Curr Opin Neurobiol 20: 50–57
Wang W, Liu W, Wang Y, Zhou L, Tang X, Luo H (2011) Notch signaling regulates neuroepithelial stem cell maintenance and neuroblast formation in Drosophila optic lobe development. Dev Biol 350:414–428
Doe CQ (2008) Neural stem cells: balancing self-renewal with differentiation. Development 135:1575–1587
Egger B, Chell JM, Brand AH (2008) Insights into neural stem cell biology from flies. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 363:39–56
Knoblich JA (2008) Mechanisms of asymmetric stem cell division. Cell 132:583–597
Bello BC, Izergina N, Caussinus E, Reichert H (2008) Amplification of neural stem cell proliferation by intermediate progenitor cells in Drosophila brain development. Neural Develop 3:5
Boone JQ, Doe CQ (2008) Identification of Drosophila type II neuroblast lineages containing transit amplifying ganglion mother cells. Dev Neurobiol 68:1185–1195
Bowman SK, Rolland V, Betschinger J, Kinsey KA, Emery G, Knoblich JA (2008) The tumor suppressors brat and numb regulate transit-amplifying neuroblast lineages in Drosophila. Dev Cell 14:535–546
Weng M, Lee CY (2011) Kee** neural progenitor cells on a short leash during Drosophila neurogenesis. Curr Opin Neurobiol 21: 36–42
Egger B, Boone JQ, Stevens N, Brand AH, Doe C (2007) Regulation of spindle orientation and neural stem cell fate in the Drosophila optic lobe. Neural Dev 2:1
Egger B, Gold KS, Brand AH (2010) Notch regulates the switch from symmetric to asymmetric neural stem cell division in the Drosophila optic lobe. Development 137: 2981–2987
Ngo KT, Wang J, Junker M, Kriz S, Vo G, Asem B, Olson JM, Banerjee U, Hartenstein V (2010) Concomitant requirement for Notch and Jak/Stat signaling during neuro-epithelial differentiation in the Drosophila optic lobe. Dev Biol 346:284–295
Reddy BVVG, Rauskolb C, Irvine KD (2010) Influence of Fat-Hippo and Notch signaling on the proliferation and differentiation of Drosophila optic neuroepithelia. Development 137:2397–2408
Yasugi T, Sugie A, Umetsu D, Tabata T (2010) Coordinated sequential action of EGFR and Notch signaling pathways regulates proneural wave progression in the Drosophila optic lobe. Development 137:3193–3203
Yasugi T, Umetsu D, Murakami S, Sato M, Tabata T (2008) Drosophila optic lobe neuroblasts triggered by a wave of proneural gene expression that is negatively regulated by JAK/STAT. Development 135:1471–1480
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Weng, M., Komori, H., Lee, CY. (2012). Identification of Neural Stem Cells in the Drosophila Larval Brain. In: Singh, S. (eds) Somatic Stem Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 879. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-815-3_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-815-3_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-814-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-815-3
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols