Time-lapse Observation of Chromosomes, Cytoskeletons and Cell Organelles during Male Meiotic Divisions in Drosophila

Karin Tanabe; Ryotaro Okazaki; Kana Kaizuka; Yoshihiro H Inoue

doi:10.21769/BioProtoc.2225

Time-lapse Observation of Chromosomes, Cytoskeletons and Cell Organelles during Male Meiotic Divisions in Drosophila

Bio Protoc. 2017 Apr 20;7(8):e2225. doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.2225.

Authors

Karin Tanabe¹, Ryotaro Okazaki¹, Kana Kaizuka¹, Yoshihiro H Inoue¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Insect Biomedical Research, Center for Advanced Insect Research Promotion, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Matsugasaki, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

In this protocol, we provide an experimental procedure that perform time-lapse observation of intra-cellular structures such as chromosomes, cytoskeletons and cell organelles during meiotic cell divisions in Drosophila males. As primary spermatocyte is the largest dividing diploid cell in Drosophila, which is equivalent in size to mammalian cultured cells, one can observe dynamics of cellular components during division of the model cells more precisely. Using this protocol, we have showed that a microtubule-associated protein plays an essential role in microtubule dynamics and initiation of cleavage furrowing through interaction between microtubules and actomyosin filaments. We have also reported that nuclear membrane components are required for a formation and/or maintenance of the spindle envelope essential for cytokinesis in the Drosophila cells.

Keywords: Chromosome dynamics; Cytokinesis; Drosophila; GFP-tagged protein; Male meiosis; Microtubules; Mitochondria; Time-lapse observation.