Caterpillar blood DNA

Connie Hallberg (connie_hallberg@entm.purdue.edu)
6 Mar 1997 15:21:43 U

Have any of you successfully examined DNA content in insect or other
invertebrate blood cells?

I have had trouble getting the cytoplasm stripped from the nuclei using
lepidopteran (Manduca sexta) hemocytes.

I have used fresh, unfixed cells, paraformaldehyde-fixed cells, and
ethanol-fixed cells and stained with a modified Vindelov's PI. Increasing the
detergent (Nonidet P-40) concentration from 0.1% to 0.2% or 0.3% didn't seem
to help. I still see intact cells in the microscope.

Any suggestions? Thank you very much.

C. A. Hallberg
Department of Entomology
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907