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Analysis of the Drosophila Compound Eye with Light and Electron Microscopy

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Book cover Retinal Degeneration

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 935))

Abstract

The Drosophila compound eye is a regular structure, in which about 750 units, called ommatidia, are arranged in a highly regular pattern. Eye development proceeds in a stereotypical fashion, where epithelial cells of the eye imaginal discs are specified, recruited, and differentiated in a sequential order that leads to the highly precise structure of an adult eye. Even small perturbations, for example in signaling pathways that control proliferation, cell death, or differentiation, can impair the regular structure of the eye, which can be easily detected and analyzed. In addition, the Drosophila eye has proven to be an ideal model for studying the genetic control of neurodegeneration, since the eye is not essential for viability. Several human neurodegeneration diseases have been modeled in the fly, leading to a better understanding of the function/misfunction of the respective gene. In many cases, the genes involved and their function are conserved between flies and human. More strikingly, when ectopically expressed in the fly eye some human genes without a Drosophila counterpart can induce neurodegeneration, detectable by aberrant phototaxis, impaired electrophysiology, or defects in eye morphology. These defects are often rather subtle alteration in shape, size, or arrangement of the cells, and can be easily scored at the ultrastructural level. This chapter aims to provide an overview regarding the analysis of the retina by various means.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Michaela Rentsch for help with the electron micrographs, Franziska Friedrich for help in preparing Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and Nagananda Gurudev for the figure of the optical neutralization. Work of E. K. is supported by the Max-Planck Society (MPG) and a grant from the EC (HEALTH-F2-2008-200234).

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  1. Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany

    Monalisa Mishra & Elisabeth Knust

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  1. Monalisa Mishra
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  2. Elisabeth Knust
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Correspondence to Elisabeth Knust .

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  1. , Institute of Human Genetics, University of Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, Regensburg, 93053, Germany

    Bernhard H.F. Weber

  2. INSTITUTE OF HUMAN GENETICS, INSTITUTE OF HUMAN GENETICS, FRANZ-JOSEF-STRAUSS-ALLEE 11, 93053 REGENSBURG, Germany

    THOMAS LANGMANN

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Mishra, M., Knust, E. (2012). Analysis of the Drosophila Compound Eye with Light and Electron Microscopy. In: Weber, B., LANGMANN, T. (eds) Retinal Degeneration. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 935. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-080-9_11

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