The development of adult abdominal muscles in Drosophila: Myoblasts express twist and are associated with nerves

Abstract

During metamorphosis, the adult muscles of the Drosophila abdomen develop from pools of myoblasts that are present in the larva. The adult myoblasts express twist in the third larval instar and the early pupa and are closely associated with nerves. Growing adult nerves and the twist-expressing cells migrate out across the developing abdominal epidermis, and as twist expression declines, the myoblasts begin to synthesize β3 tubulin. There follows a process involving cell fusion and segregation into cell groups to form multinucleate muscle precursors. These bipolar precursors migrate at both ends to find their correct attachment points. β3 tubulin expression continues at least until 51 h APF by which time the adult muscle pattern has been established.