Functional Analysis of Actin-Binding Proteins in the Central Nervous System of Drosophila

Using Drosophila actin-binding protein Dunc-115 as an example, this chapter describes an MARCM based method for analyzing cytoskeletal components for their functions in the nervous system. Following a concise description about the principle, a step-by-step protocol is provided for generating the needed stocks and for histological analysis. Additional details and explanations have been given in the accompanying notes. With the two together, it should provide a practical and comprehensive recipe for performing at the single cell level loss-of-function and gain-of-function analyses of proteins associated with the cytoskeleton.