Dissection, Fixation, and Standard Staining of Adult Drosophila Ovaries

Studies of the Drosophila ovary have provided significant insight into the molecular and cellular processes that control cell function, tissue organization, and animal development. To characterize mutants with defects in oogenesis or to observe the distribution of gene products involved in egg production, the ovaries must be carefully extracted and prepared for analysis. This chapter describes the manual dissection of ovaries from adult Drosophila females, followed by standard fixation and staining of the isolated tissue. Specifically, this chapter provides procedures for simple DNA and F-actin staining to assess cell and tissue morphology, as well as immunostaining to localize proteins of interest.