LAUSR

Of the methods available for extracting total RNA from Drosophila, monophasic lysis reagents (such as TRIzol) yield consistent and reliable results and are considerably cheaper than other kit-based techniques for RNA isolation. In this protocol, up to 50 mg of Drosophila tissue is homogenized in a microcentrifuge tube using a plastic pestle in the presence of the monophasic lysis reagent. For larger amounts of starting material, homogenization can be performed using a mortar and pestle or a Dounce homogenizer, and the rest of the protocol can be readily scaled up.