Imaging the cellular dynamics of Drosophila Argonaute proteins

Drosophila melanogaster is used extensively as a model system to uncover genetic and molecular pathways that regulate various cellular activities. There are five members of the Argonaute protein family in Drosophila. Argonautes have been found to be localized to cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein containing structures in both cultured Drosophila cells and developing embryos. However, in fixed cell preparations some Drosophila Argonaute family proteins co-localize with structures containing known as RNA processing (P) body components while others do not. The ability to image Argonaute family proteins in live Drosophila cells, (both cultured and within developing embryos) allows for accurate genetic dissection of the pathways involved in the assembly, mobility, disassembly, and other dynamic processes of Argonaute-containing bodies. Here we describe a method of rapidly creating vectors for, and assay the activity of, fluorescently tagged Argonaute proteins in cultured Drosophila cells and embryos.