Making Live Transparent Fruit Fly for Live Tissue Imaging

The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is a cornerstone model organism for studying insect metamorphosis due to its unparalleled genetic toolkit. While fly embryos are naturally transparent and amenable to live imaging during early development, larval and pupal stages accumulate lipids and develop pigmented chitinous cuticles, rendering internal tissues optically inaccessible. The question is: Is it technically possible to generate see-through flies for live tissue imaging? This proposal seeks to answer the question by combining genetic mutations that target lipid metabolism and pigmentation pathways with mild chemical clearing to generate transparent flies. We expect to enable real-time visualization of tissue remodeling during metamorphosis, unraveling the programs behind tissue development and organ formation, and enrich our understanding of developmental plasticity and adaptive evolution in insects.