F-ACTIN DISTRIBUTION IN THE DEVELOPING NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER EMBRYO

Rh-phalloidin staining of whole mounts of Drosophila embryos shows that the appearance of repeated pairs of F-actin-containing bundles is closely related to the first phase of the growth cone extension. F-actin staining is maximum when the transitory scalari- form pattern of the nervous system is completed and the condensation phase begins. In the early larva, the suboesophageal ganglia are fused to the brain, and there is no indication of segmentation: at this time F-actin staining is considerably less. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.