Cell Lineage Analyses and Gene Function Studies Using Twin-spot MARCM

Summary

Here, we present a protocol for a mosaic labeling technique that permits the visualization of neurons derived from a common progenitor cell in two distinct colors. This facilitates neural lineage analysis with the capability of birth-dating individual neurons and studying gene function in the same neurons of different individuals.

Abstract

Mosaic analysis with a repressible cell marker (MARCM) is a positive mosaic labeling system that has been widely applied in Drosophila neurobiological studies to depict intricate morphologies and to manipulate the function of genes in subsets of neurons within otherwise unmarked and unperturbed organisms. Genetic mosaics generated in the MARCM system are mediated through site-specific recombination between homologous chromosomes within dividing precursor cells to produce both marked (MARCM clones) and unmarked daughter cells during mitosis. An extension of the MARCM method, called twin-spot MARCM (tsMARCM), labels both of the twin cells derived from a common progenitor with two distinct colors. This technique was developed to enable the retrieval of useful information from both hemi-lineages. By comprehensively analyzing different pairs of tsMARCM clones, the tsMARCM system permits high-resolution neural lineage mapping to reveal the exact birth-order of the labeled neurons produced from common progenitor cells. Furthermore, the tsMARCM system also extends gene function studies by permitting the phenotypic analysis of identical neurons of different animals. Here, we describe how to apply the tsMARCM system to facilitate studies of neural development in Drosophila.

Introduction

The brain, comprised of a vast number and diverse types of neurons, endows animals with the ability to perceive, process, and respond to challenges from the external world. Neurons of the adult Drosophila central brain are derived from a limited number of neural stem cells, called neuroblasts (NBs), during development^1,2. Most of the NBs participating in brain neurogenesis in Drosophila undergo asymmetric division to generate self-renewing NBs and ganglion mother cells (GMCs), and the GMCs then go through another round of division to produce two daughter cells that differentiate into neurons<....

Protocol

1. Build tsMARCM-ready Flies Using the Required Transgenes^11,13

1. Generate the original version of tsMARCM-ready flies from transgenes that are carried by individual flies¹¹ (see Table 1). Conduct standard fly genetic crossing schemes, which have been described previously, by putting multiple transgenes in the same fly stocks¹³.
   1. In one parental line, assemble the transgenes of FRT^40A, UAS-mCD8::GFP (the first reporter, mCD8::GFP; expression of the transgene is under the control of the upstream ac....

Results

The tsMARCM system has been used to facilitate neural lineage analyses and gene function studies by retrieving important information on neurons derived from common NBs. The system has been used to identify most (if not all) neuronal types, determine the cell number of each neuronal type, and ascertain the birth-order of these neurons^11,12,18 (see the Discussion Section for detail.......

Discussion

Critical Steps within the Protocol

Steps 1.1.1, 1.2.1, 2.3, 2.5, and 3.2 are critical for obtaining good tsMARCM results. Tissue-specific-GAL4 drivers that do not express GAL4 in neural progenitors are preferred for steps 1.1.1 and 1.2.1. Avoid over-crowding the animals grown in the fly-food vials in step 2.3. Because the induction latency, the expression level of FLP upon heat-shock, and the average dividing time of neural progenitors (i.e., NBs and GMCs) are not known, it is b.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Carbon dioxide (CO2)	Local vendor	n.a.	Anesthetize flies
CO2 pad	Local vendor	n.a.	Sort, cross and transfer flies
10x PBS pH 7.4	Uniregion Bio-Tech (or other vendors)	PBS001	Dissect, rinse, wash and immunostain fly brains
Formaldehyde	Sigma-Aldrich	252549	Fix fly brains
Triton X-100	Sigma-Aldrich	T8787	Rinse, wash and immunostain fly brains
Normal goat	Jackson ImmunoResearch	005-000-121	Immunostain fly brains
serum
Rat anti-mouse CD8 antibody	Invitrogen	MCD0800	Immunostain fly brains
Rabbit anti-DsRed antibody	Clonetech	632496	Immunostain fly brains
Mouse anti-Brp antibody	Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank	nc82	Immunostain fly brains
Goat anti-rat IgG antibody conjugated with Alexa Fluor 488	Invitrogen	A11006	Immunostain fly brains
Goat anti-rabbit IgG antibody conjugated with Alexa Fluor 546	Invitrogen	A11035	Immunostain fly brains
Goat anti-mouse IgG antibody conjugated with Alexa Fluor 647	Invitrogen	A21236	Immunostain fly brains
SlowFade gold antifade reagent	Molecular Probes	S36936	Mount fly brains and protect quenching of fluorescence
PYREX 9 depression glass spot plate	Corning	7220-85	Dissect, rinse, wash and immunostain fly brains
Sylgard 184 silicone elastomer kit	World Precision Instruments	SYLG184	Make black Sylgard dishes to protect forceps during brain dissection
Activated charcoal	Sigma-Aldrich	242276-250G	Make black Sylgard dishes
Dumont #5 forceps	Fine Science Tools	11252-30	Dissect and mount fly brains
Micro slide	Corning	2948-75x25	Mount fly brains
Micro cover glass No. 1.5	VWR International	48366-205	Mount fly brains
Nail polish	Local vendor	not available	Seal micro cover glass on micro slides
Incubator	Kansin Instruments	LTI603	culture flies at 25 °C
(or other vendors)
Water bath	Kansin Instruments	WB212-B2	Induce heat-shock in flies at 37 °C
(or other vendors)
Orbital shaker	Kansin Instruments	OS701	Wash and immunostain fly brains
(or other vendors)
Dissection microscope	Leica	EZ4	Sort, cross and transfer flies; Dissect, rinse, wash and immunostain fly brains
Confocal microscope	Zeiss (or other vendors)	LSM 700 (or other models)	Image tsMARCM clones
image-processing software 1 (e.g., Zeiss LSM image browser)	Zeiss	not available	Project stacks of confocal images
image-processing software 2 (e.g., ImageJ)	not available	not available	Count cell number of tsMARCM clones