Drosophila melanogaster as a model system to study mitochondrial biology

Mitochondria play an essential role in cellular homeostasis. Although in the last few decades our knowledge of mitochondria has increased substantially, the mechanisms involved in the control of mitochondrial biogenesis remain largely unknown. The powerful genetics of Drosophila combined with a wealth of available cell and molecular biology techniques, make this organism an excellent system to study mitochondria. In this chapter we will review briefly the opportunities that Drosophila offers as a model system and describe in detail how to purify mitochondria from Drosophila and to perform the analysis of developmental gene expression using in situ hybridization.