Journal article

Publication year: 2008

Journal: Cold Spring Harbor protocols

Volume number: 3

Issue number: 10

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot5069

Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor

Abstract: 

The spider Cupiennius salei, commonly known as the American Wandering Spider, is a particularly useful laboratory model for embryological studies because
of the availability of tools to study and manipulate its embryonic development. Cupiennius
is used to study axis formation, segmentation, appendage development,
neurogenesis, and silk production. These studies contribute
to our understanding of the evolution of these
processes, but they also help us to understand the origin and
diversification
of evolutionary novelties. Comparisons between
spiders and insects can show the degree of conservation and divergence
of developmental
mechanisms during arthropod evolution. Any
embryological feature conserved between spiders and insects is likely to
represent
an ancestral feature for arthropods. Comparative
molecular embryological work in insects and spiders should eventually
allow
us to define a molecular archetype for the phylum
Arthropoda. This in itself will be a necessary cornerstone for comparing
the different metazoan phyla, including chordates. A
feature of apoptosis (i.e., cell death) is the cleavage or
fragmentation
of DNA that occurs in dead or dying cells. This
protocol describes the detection of fragmented DNA in whole-mount Cupiennius
embryos. The 3′-OH ends of these DNA fragments can be labeled with the
terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin
nick-end labeling (TUNEL) technique. This protocol
uses a terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase to add labeled dUTP to the
fragmented DNA, and this label is then detected by
immunocytochemistry. The TUNEL technique is a relatively easy way to
obtain
a reliable picture of the cell death pattern during
normal and abnormal development.

Harvard Citation style: Prpic, N., Schoppmeier, M. and Damen, W. (2008) Detection of Cell Death in Spider Embryos Using TUNEL, Cold Spring Harbor protocols, 3(10). https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot5069

APA Citation style: Prpic, N., Schoppmeier, M., & Damen, W. (2008). Detection of Cell Death in Spider Embryos Using TUNEL. Cold Spring Harbor protocols. 3(10). https://doi.org/10.1101/pdb.prot5069