Flygut: an atlas of the Drosophila adult midgut

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Histology of the Drosophila adult midgut

In this section, we describe the histological diversity along the Drosophila midgut. This atlas is based on transversal sections of the different gut regions that were marked with either GFP (immunostaining) or classical histological stains. Below is shown:
  1. A summary showing the different histological territories of the midgut in 3D with links to representative sections of each region (click on "Show" on the right).
  2. A schematic representation of the histology of the midgut regions and representative sections of each region.
  3. A series of 34 histological sections throughout the midgut.
  4. Two videos showing the overall organization of the Drosophila adult midgut.

1- Histological territories in 3D and representative sections of each region.

Click on "Show" on the right of the table to see representative sections of each region. To activate the 3D view, click on the picture.
List of histological structures
Color Name Position Anatomical region
Crop 1 Crop Show
Cardia 2 Cardia Show
Boundary P-1 3 Boundary P-1
R1a 4 R1 Show
R1b 5 R1 Show
R2 6 R2 Show
Boundary 2-3 7 Boundary 2-3
R3ab 8 R3 Show
R3c 9 R3 Show
Boundary 3-4 10 Boundary 3-4
R4a 11 R4 Show
R4bc 12 R4 Show
R5 13 R5 Show
Hindgut 14 Hindgut Show
3D model of histological structures
Histo regions

2- A schematic representation of the histology of the midgut regions and representative sections of each region.

By clicking on the region of interest, you will find a scheme that summarizes the histological data of the region, as well as representative images of histological gut sections. Methods to stain the gut can be found in the Supplementary Material and Methods section of our manuscript. We used in this analysis:
Regions Crop R1a R1b R2a R2b R2c R3a R3c R3b R4a R4b R4c R5a R5b Boundary P-1 Boundary 2-3 Boundary 3-4 cardia (proventriculus) cardia (midgut part)

3- 34 histological sections throughout the midgut

This slideshow presents successive histological sections along the gut with their longitudinal positions.
blue: nuclei stained with DAPI; green: brush borders stained with the A142 GFP trap, red: visceral muscles stained with phalloidin; yellow: food particles.
Link to slideshow

4- Two videos showing the overall organization of the Drosophila midgut.

3 color video of the gut showing its internal and external organization:
The midgut of a 3-5 day-old adult female was dissected and imaged by confocal microscopy in xyz axis, and then reconstructed in 3D using Imaris. blue: nuclei stained with DAPI; green: brush border marked with the A142 GFP trap; red: food.
Download high-resolution movie
4 color video of the 3D gut structure:
The midgut of a 3-5 day-old adult female was dissected and imaged by confocal microscopy in xyz, and then reconstructed in 3D using Imaris. blue: nuclei stained with DAPI; green: brush border marked with the A142 GFP trap; red: visceral muscles stained with phalloidin; yellow: food particles (fluorescent latex beads).
Download high-resolution movie