Isolation and partial characterization of Drosophila myoblasts from primary cultures of embryonic cells.

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Abstract
A method for preparing highly enriched cultures of Drosophila melanogaster myoblasts from a heterogeneous cell population derived from gastrulating embryos is described. Enriched cultures are prepared by plating this heterogeneous population of cells in medium from which much of the free Ca is chelated by ethylene glycol-bis(.beta.-aminoethyl ether)N,N,N'',N''-tetraacetate (EGTA). Adhesion of myoblasts to tissue culture plastic is better than that of other cell types when plated in this medium. Data concerning cell identity, timing of S phase and fusion kinetics document the degree of enrichment for myogenic cells and illustrate their synchronous differentiation in vitro.