(A-D) Primary cultures from D. melanogaster embryos expressing GFP-Atg8a under the control of Dmef2-Gal4, stained with Phalloidin (actin) in red. Inset are magnifications of areas denoted by dotted line. (A) In untreated control cultures, GFP-Atg8a localizes throughout the musclecytoplasm and nuclei. (B) Addition of rapamycin (Rap) for 12 hrs results in the formation of small GFP-Atg8a labeled punctae. (C) Addition of chloroquine (CQ) for 12 hrs results in the accumulation of large GFP-Atg8a labeled vesicles that localize around the nucleus and between the myofibers. (D) Addition of both CQ and Rap for 12hrs, triggers the formation of greater numbers of enlarged vesicles in the musclesthan either drug alone. (E) Knockdown of the core autophagy gene, Atg1, prevents the formation of GFP-Atg8a vesicles in CQ+Rap treated cultures. (F) Quantification of the mean ratio of GFP-Atg8a punctae area to total muscle area per well (n = 4). Error bars indicate SEM with **p<.01; ***p<.001. 