Fluorescent Microscopy-Based Detection of Chitin in Intact Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: Chitin is the major scaffolding component of the insect cuticle. Ultrastructural analyses revealed that chitin adopts a quasi-crystalline structure building sheets of parallel running microfibrils. These sheets called laminae are stacked either helicoidally or with a preferred orientation of the microfibrils. Precise control of chitin synthesis is mandatory to ensure the correct chitin assembly and in turn proper function of cuticular structures. Thus, evaluation of chitin-metabolism deficient phenotypes is a key to our understanding of the function of the proteins and enzymes involved in cuticle architecture and more generally in cuticle biology in insects. Usually, these phenotypes have been assessed using electron microscopy, which is time-consuming and labor intensive. This stresses th

SUBMITTER: Flaven-Pouchon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9086190 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature