An Improved Method for Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Flight Performance in Drosophila
An Improved Method for Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Flight Performance in Drosophila
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DOI：
10.3791/51223
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发表时间：
2014-02-01
影响因子：
1.2
通讯作者：
Ganetzky, Barry
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Babcock, Daniel T.;Ganetzky, Barry
果蝇已被证明是一个有用的模型系统，用于分析行为，包括飞行。最初的飞行测试包括将苍蝇放入一个涂有油的量筒中;着陆高度通过评估苍蝇在产生足够的推力与圆筒壁接触之前会下降多远来衡量飞行性能。在这里，我们描述了一个更新版本的飞行测试仪与四个主要的改进。首先，我们增加了一个“落管”，以确保所有苍蝇在试验之间以相似的速度进入飞行圆柱体，消除用户之间的差异。其次，我们用涂有Tangle-Trap的可移动塑料片取代了油涂层，Tangle-Trap是一种旨在捕捉活昆虫的粘合剂。第三，我们使用更长的圆柱体来更准确地区分飞行能力。第四，我们使用数码相机和成像软件来自动化飞行性能的评分。这些改进允许对飞行行为进行快速、定量的评估，这对于大型数据集和大规模遗传筛查非常有用。
Drosophila has proven to be a useful model system for analysis of behavior, including flight. The initial flight tester involved dropping flies into an oil-coated graduated cylinder; landing height provided a measure of flight performance by assessing how far flies will fall before producing enough thrust to make contact with the wall of the cylinder. Here we describe an updated version of the flight tester with four major improvements. First, we added a "drop tube"to ensure that all flies enter the flight cylinder at a similar velocity between trials, eliminating variability between users. Second, we replaced the oil coating with removable plastic sheets coated in Tangle-Trap, an adhesive designed to capture live insects. Third, we use a longer cylinder to enable more accurate discrimination of flight ability. Fourth we use a digital camera and imaging software to automate the scoring of flight performance. These improvements allow for the rapid, quantitative assessment of flight behavior, useful for large datasets and large-scale genetic screens.