Campus Units

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Roy J. Carver Department of

Document Type

Article

Publication Version

Published Version

Publication Date

2-2010

Journal or Book Title

Journal of Visualized Experiments

Issue

36

First Page

e1748

DOI

10.3791/1748

Abstract

Drosophila has long been a favorite model system for studying the relationship between chromatin structure and gene regulation due to the cytological advantages provided by the giant salivary gland polytene chromosomes of third instar larvae. In this tissue the chromosomes undergo many rounds of replication in the absence of cell division giving rise to approximately 1000 copies. The DNA remains aligned after each replicative cycle resulting in greatly enlarged chromosomes that provide a unique opportunity to correlate chromatin morphology with the localization of specific proteins. Consequently, there has been a high level of interest in defining the epigenetic modifications present at different genes and at different stages of the transcription process. An important tool for such studies is the labeling of polytene chromosomes with antibodies to the enzyme, transcription factor, or histone modification of interest. This video protocol illustrates the squash technique used in the Johansen laboratory to prepare Drosophila polytene chromosomes for antibody labeling.

Comments

This article is published as Cai, W., Jin, Y., Girton, J., Johansen, J., Johansen, K.M. Preparation of Drosophila Polytene Chromosome Squashes for Antibody Labeling. J. Vis. Exp. (36), e1748, doi:10.3791/1748 (2010). Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner

Journal of Visualized Experiments

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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