Isolation and partial characterization of Drosophila myoblasts from primary cultures of embryonic cells

We describe a method for preparing highly enriched cultures of Drosophila myoblasts from a heterogeneous cell population derived from gastrulating embryos. Enriched cultures are prepared by plating this heterogeneous population of cells in medium from which much of the free calcium is chelated by ethylene glycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (EGTA). Adhesion of myoblasts to tissue culture plastic is better than that of other cell types when plated in this medium. Data concerning cell identity, timing of S phase, and fusion kinetics document the degree of enrichment for myogenic cells and illustrate their synchronous differentiation in vitro.