Abstract: Whole mount in situ hybridization (WISH) is a popular technique that is used to study temporal-spatial gene expression at mRNA level in model systems. Sensitive and high-resolution WISH is important for every laboratory that uses this technique to study expression pattern of genes in wildtype and perturbed embryos. Based on the commonly used proto-cols in fish community, our lab optimizes them to get more sensitive and specific results. Here, we briefly summarize the history of this technology using zebrafish as an example, describe a detailed experimental protocol, and provide trouble-shooting for imperfect results and their solution.

Key words: zebrafish, whole mount in situ hybridization