Time-Lapse Imaging of Male Meiosis by Phase-Contrast and Fluorescence Microscopy

Meiosis is one of the key stages of spermatogenesis during which two rounds of chromosome segregation follow a single doubling of the DNA, thus reducing the chromosome number to produce haploid cells. Drosophila spermatocytes have been used extensively to study the basic mechanisms that govern cell division and meiosis. They are well suited for this purpose because they are easily accessible, readily identifiable, and relatively large and abundant. Moreover, large collections of mutants that disrupt many aspects of cell division and green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fusion proteins that label different components of the cell division machinery, are available in Drosophila and can be studied in these cells (1 –12 ).