Analysis of Muscle Structure Using Fluorescently Tagged Proteins in Drosophila melanogaster Femur Muscles.

The femur skeletal muscles of Drosophila melanogaster provide an excellent model for studying skeletal muscle development, function, physiology, and maintenance. Their key advantage over other adult skeletal muscles is the ability to image them with minimal dissection through the exoskeleton without compromising their structure, attachment sites, and overall morphology. Here, we present a general protocol for sample preparation and mounting of Drosophila legs that enables direct microscopy imaging of skeletal muscle structure. We provide representative images of the femur skeletal muscles under Apotome structured illumination microscopy and laser-scanning confocal microscopy. Finally, we highlight useful GFP or mCherry knock-in alleles of common skeletal muscle proteins that we have used successfully.