The morphogenesis of the ovarian germline stem cell (GSC) niche during larval stages in Drosophila provides the initial cellular and molecular basis for female gamete production in the adult. During larval instars, the Drosophila female gonad matures gradually from a round structure enclosing primordial germ cells (PGCs) and somatic cells into a functional organ containing GSC populations in their niches that later in adult stages support oogenesis. In this chapter, we describe a technique for dissecting, staining, and analyzing gonads from female Drosophila larvae and early pupae, offering the possibility of a direct view of the morphogenesis of an ovarian niche.
Keywords: Dissection; Drosophila; Gonad; Image analysis; Larvae; Ovary; Staining.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.