Total RNA Isolation from Drosophila melanogaster

Of the methods available for extracting total RNA from Drosophila, monophasic lysis reagents (such as TRIzol) yield consistent and reliable results and are considerably cheaper than other kit-based techniques for RNA isolation. In this protocol, up to 50 mg of Drosophila tissue is homogenized in a microcentrifuge tube using a plastic pestle in the presence of the monophasic lysis reagent. For larger amounts of starting material, homogenization can be performed using a mortar and pestle or a Dounce homogenizer, and the rest of the protocol can be readily scaled up.