A histochemical study of the muscles of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The thoracic muscles of Drosophila melanogaster can be classified into two classes, the fibrillar and the tubular muscles, on morphological grounds. Histochemical techniques were used to characterize these two classes of muscle according to their content of various enzymes (alpha-glycerophosphate, NAD-dependent isocitrate, malate and succinate dehydrogenases, fumarase, acid phosphatase, adenosine triphosphatase and acetylcholinesterase) and of glycogen. These investigations showed that the two muslces types are histochemically very different and, further, that the morphologically similar tubular muscles are heterogeneous with respect to their enzyme content. In particular, the tergal depressor of the trochanter of the second leg, the largest of the tubular muslces, has considerably less of all the enzymes studied, with the exception of acetylcholinesterase, than all the other tubular muscles examined. The histochemical techniqes were also used to follow the changes in enzyme levels that occur during development of the indirect flight muscle fibres. All the enzymes that are present in adult flight muslces showed an increase in staining intensity throughout muscle development. Some minor differences were observed in the time of appearance and rate of increase of intensity of the different enzymes.

ADrosophilamodel for mito-nuclear diseases generated by an incompatible tRNA-tRNA synthetase interaction

“…In humans, diseases that compromise mitochondrial translation often result in exercise defects and early fatigue ( Pulkes et al, 2000 ; Riley et al, 2010 ). Drosophila flight muscles are highly metabolically active and predominantly aerobic ( Sacktor, 1976 ; Deak, 1977 ; Beenakkers et al, 1984 ), whereas climbing muscles favor anaerobic metabolism (glycolysis) as their energy source ( Demontis et al, 2013 ). We performed flight and climbing (negative geotaxis) assays to measure two different aspects of locomotor performance as proxies for muscle function.…”

Extradenticle and Homothorax Control Adult Muscle Fiber Identity in Drosophila

“…By contrast, the jump muscles have cuboidal myofibrils with broad H-zones, myofibrils held in register relative to each other, nuclei located in a central lumen, an intricate T-tubule system, and mitochondria that segregate into a distinct zone between rows of myofibrils. In addition, the flight muscles show high levels of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity and very low levels of acetyl cholinesterase (ACh) activity (Deak, 1977), whereas the converse is true of the jump muscles (Figures 3D and 3E, WT).…”

“…The anti-Salm antibody was first described elsewhere (Xie et al, 2007). Histochemical stains were as described by Deak (Deak, 1977). Electron microscopy used an established protocol (O’Donnell et al, 1989).…”

Differential requirements for Myocyte Enhancer Factor-2 during adult myogenesis in Drosophila

“…We cannot rule out that MEF2 may be participating in other aspects of muscle physiology, besides structural protein turn-over. Hence, MEF2 might be involved in expression of muscle-specific enzymes, controlling muscle metabolism (Deak, 1977). Another intriguing possibility could be a potential participation of MEF2 in muscle repair after an extensive muscle exercise such as long-term flying, or pathology.…”