Imaging the Dorsal-Ventral Axis of Live and Fixed Drosophila melanogaster Embryos

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Tissue Morphogenesis

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1189))

Abstract

Optimal imaging conditions are of critical importance in developmental biology, as much of the data in the discipline is acquired through microscopy. However, imaging deep sections of tissue, especially live tissue, can be a technical challenge due to light scattering and difficulties in mounting the sample. In particular, capturing high-quality images of dorsal-ventral cross sections requires “end-on” mounting to orient the anterior-posterior axis vertically. Here we present methods to mount and image dorsal-ventral cross sections of both live and fixed Drosophila melanogaster embryos. Our methods have the advantages of being rapid, allowing deep optical sections, and not requiring expensive, specialized equipment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Alexander Thomas, Ashley Jermusyk, and Joshua Chappell for review of the manuscript. Many thanks to Michael O’Connell for help with illustrations. SNC is partially supported by the NCSU Biotechnology GAANN fellowship.

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Correspondence to Gregory T. Reeves Ph.D. .

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Carrell, S.N., Reeves, G.T. (2015). Imaging the Dorsal-Ventral Axis of Live and Fixed Drosophila melanogaster Embryos. In: Nelson, C. (eds) Tissue Morphogenesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1189. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1164-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1164-6_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1163-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1164-6

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