Skip to main content

Subcellular Transcript Localization in Drosophila Embryos and Tissues Visualized by Multiplex-FISH

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
In Situ Hybridization Methods

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 99))

Abstract

Determining the spatiotemporal expression dynamics of a gene, or the subcellular localization properties of its encoded RNA, is often a key first step toward elucidating its function. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) represents the gold standard method for visualizing RNA expression and subcellular localization features in distinct cells, tissue specimens, and whole-mount organisms. This chapter describes a high-resolution FISH protocol for the detection of coding or noncoding RNA expression and localization dynamics in embryos and tissues of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Variations of the protocol are proposed for the co-detection of different RNAs and for the co-labeling of RNAs and proteins. The protocol also outlines details for conducting FISH in 96-well plate format, which significantly enhances the throughput and versatility of the procedure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Pardue ML, Gall JG (1969) Molecular hybridization of radioactive DNA to the DNA of cytological preparations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 64:600–604

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Gall JG, Pardue ML (1969) Formation and detection of RNA-DNA hybrid molecules in cytological preparations. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 63:378–383

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. John HA, Birnstiel ML, Jones KW (1969) RNA-DNA hybrids at the cytological level. Nature 223:582–587

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Schwarzacher T (2003) DNA, chromosomes, and in situ hybridization. Genome 46:953–962

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Harrison PR, Conkie D, Paul J, Jones K (1973) Localisation of cellular globin messenger RNA by in situ hybridisation to complementary DNA. FEBS Lett 32:109–112

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Conkie D, Affara N, Harrison PR, Paul J, Jones K (1974) In situ localization of globin messenger RNA formation. II. After treatment of Friend virus-transformed mouse cells with dimethyl sulfoxide. J Cell Biol 63:414–419

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Pochet R, Brocas H, Vassart G, Toubeau G, Seo H, Refetoff S, Dumont JE, Pasteels JL (1981) Radioautographic localization of prolactin messenger RNA on histological sections by in situ hybridization. Brain Res 211:433–438

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Cox KH, DeLeon DV, Angerer LM, Angerer RC (1984) Detection of mRNAs in sea urchin embryos by in situ hybridization using asymmetric RNA probes. Dev Biol 101:485–502

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Egger D, Bolten R, Rahner C, Bienz K (1999) Fluorochrome-labeled RNA as a sensitive, strand-specific probe for direct fluorescence in situ hybridization. Histochem Cell Biol 111:319–324

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Binder M, Tourmente S, Roth J, Renaud M, Gehring WJ (1986) In situ hybridization at the electron microscope level: localization of transcripts on ultrathin sections of Lowicryl K4M-embedded tissue using biotinylated probes and protein A-gold complexes. J Cell Biol 102:1646–1653

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Bains MA, Giles I, Wright DH (1997) Distribution and configuration of c-myc RNA during transcriptional attenuation in differentiating cells in-situ. Histochem Cell Biol 107:259–263

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hemmati-Brivanlou A, Frank D, Bolce ME, Brown BD, Sive HL, Harland RM (1990) Localization of specific mRNAs in Xenopus embryos by whole-mount in situ hybridization. Development 110:325–330

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Tautz D, Pfeifle C (1989) A non-radioactive in situ hybridization method for the localization of specific RNAs in Drosophila embryos reveals translation control of the segmentation gene hunchback. Chromosoma 98:81–85

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Hughes SC, Krause HM (1999) Single and double FISH protocols for Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol 122:93–101

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Wilkie GS, Davis I (1998) Visualizing mRNA by in situ hybridization using high resolution and sensitive tyramide signal amplification. Elsevier Trends J 3(1):94–97, Technical Tips Online, T014458

    Google Scholar 

  16. Kosman D, Mizutani CM, Lemons D, Cox WG, McGinnis W, Bier E (2004) Multiplex detection of RNA expression in Drosophila embryos. Science 305:846

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lecuyer E, Yoshida H, Parthasarathy N, Alm C, Babak T, Cerovina T, Hughes TR, Tomancak P, Krause HM (2007) Global analysis of mRNA localization reveals a prominent role in organizing cellular architecture and function. Cell 131:174–187

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lecuyer E, Yoshida H, Krause HM (2009) Global implications of mRNA localization pathways in cellular organization. Curr Opin Cell Biol 21:409–415

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Medioni C, Mowry K, Besse F (2012) Principles and roles of mRNA localization in animal development. Development 139:3263–3276

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Tomancak P, Beaton A, Weiszmann R et al (2002) Systematic determination of patterns of gene expression during Drosophila embryogenesis. Genome Biol 3:1–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Stapleton M, Carlson J, Brokstein P et al (2002) A Drosophila full-length cDNA resource. Genome Biol 3:1–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Stapleton M, Liao G, Brokstein P et al (2002) The Drosophila gene collection: identification of putative full-length cDNAs for 70 % of D. melanogaster genes. Genome Res 12:1294–1300

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Lecuyer E (2011) High resolution fluorescent in situ hybridization in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol 714:31–47

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Toledano H, D'Alterio C, Loza-Coll M, Jones DL (2012) Dual fluorescence detection of protein and RNA in Drosophila tissues. Nat Protoc 7:1808–1817

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Legendre F, Cody NA, Iampietro C, Bergalet J, Lefebvre FA, Moquin-Beaudry G, Zhang O, Wang X, Lécuyer E (2013) Whole mount RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization of Drosophila embryos. J Vis Exp 71:e50057

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Chamberlin M, Ring J (1973) Characterization of T7-specific ribonucleic acid polymerase. II. Inhibitors of the enzyme and their application to the study of the enzymatic reaction. J Biol Chem 248:2245–2250

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Dunn JJ, Bautz FA, Bautz EK (1971) Different template specificities of phage T3 and T7 RNA polymerases. Nat New Biol 230:94–96

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Speel EJ, Ramaekers FC, Hopman AH (1997) Sensitive multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization using catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD) amplification. J Histochem Cytochem 45:1439–1446

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Wright CS (1984) Structural comparison of the two distinct sugar binding sites in wheat germ agglutinin isolectin II. J Mol Biol 178:91–104

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Lécuyer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Bergalet, J. et al. (2015). Subcellular Transcript Localization in Drosophila Embryos and Tissues Visualized by Multiplex-FISH. In: Hauptmann, G. (eds) In Situ Hybridization Methods. Neuromethods, vol 99. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2303-8_19

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2303-8_19

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2302-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2303-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics