Detecting apoptosis in Drosophila tissues and cells

In this chapter we discuss methods that can be used to study apoptotic cell death in the Drosophila embryo, ovary, as well as in cultured cell lines. These methods assay various aspects of the cell death process, from mitochondrial changes to caspase activation and DNA cleavage. The assays are useful for examining apoptosis in normal development and in response to developmental perturbations and external stresses. These techniques include Acridine Orange staining, TUNEL, cleaved caspase staining, caspase activity assays and assays for mitochondrial fission and permeabilization.