Summary
Myoblast fusion requires a number of cellular behaviors, including cell migration, recognition, and adhesion, as well as a series of subcellular behaviors, such as cytoskeletal rearrangements, vesicle trafficking, and membrane dynamics, leading to two cells becoming one. With the discovery of fluorescent proteins that can be introduced and studied within living cells, the possibility of monitoring these complex processes within the living embryo is now a reality. Live imaging, unlike imaging techniques for fixed embryos, allows the opportunity to visualize and measure the dynamics of these processes in vivo. This chapter describes the development and use of live imaging techniques to study myoblast fusion in Drosophila.
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Acknowledgments
We thank members of Baylies' laboratory, Owen Richardson, and especially Kat Hadjantonakis for stimulating discussions and advice. We also recognize the valuable input from Julia Kaltschmidt during our early days of filming. This work is supported by NIH grants GM56989 and GM78318 to M.B.
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© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science + Business Media, LLC
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Richardson, B.E., Beckett, K., Baylies, M.K. (2008). Live Imaging of Drosophila Myoblast Fusion. In: Chen, E.H. (eds) Cell Fusion. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 475. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-250-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-250-2_15
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