An Automatic Stage Identification MATLAB Tool to Reveal Notch Expression Pattern in Drosophila Egg Chambers

Many highly conserved pathways control the development and determine cell fate in organisms. One of these pathways is the Notch signaling pathway that allows for local cell-cell communication. Researchers have found that the timing for when Notch signaling activates the target gene is important for maintaining normal gene expression. Any alterations in the downstream gene expression could cause issues with development or certain diseases. The Drosophila oogenesis is a widely used model in developmental biology for analyzing the Notch pathway. However, determining the stage of oogenesis is difficult and varies depending on individual analyzing it. Here, we provide a MATLAB tool to automatically identify the stage of a Drosophila egg chamber and reveal the Notch expression pattern.