Symmetry breaking in the female germline cyst.
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Publication Date
2021-11-12Journal Title
Science
ISSN
0036-8075
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Nashchekin, D., Busby, L., Jakobs, M., Squires, I., & St Johnston, D. (2021). Symmetry breaking in the female germline cyst.. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj3125
Abstract
In mammals and flies, only one cell in a multicellular female germline cyst becomes an oocyte, but how symmetry is broken to select the oocyte is unknown. Here, we show that the microtubule (MT) minus end-stabilizing protein Patronin/CAMSAP marks the future Drosophila oocyte and is required for oocyte specification. The spectraplakin Shot recruits Patronin to the fusome, a branched structure extending into all cyst cells. Patronin stabilizes more MTs in the cell with the most fusome material. Our data suggest that this weak asymmetry is amplified by Dynein-dependent transport of Patronin-stabilized MTs. This forms a polarized MT network, along which Dynein transports oocyte determinants into the presumptive oocyte. Thus, Patronin amplifies a weak fusome anisotropy to break symmetry and select one cell to become the oocyte.
Keywords
Germ Cells, Oocytes, Microtubule-Organizing Center, Microtubules, Organelles, Animals, Drosophila melanogaster, Microfilament Proteins, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Drosophila Proteins, Anisotropy, Female, Dyneins
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (092096/Z/10/Z)
Wellcome Trust (080007/B/06/Z)
Wellcome Trust (203144/Z/16/Z)
Wellcome Trust (207496/Z/17/Z)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/R001618/1)
Cancer Research Uk (None)
Cancer Research UK (C6946/A24843)
Wellcome Trust (109145/Z/15/Z)
Identifiers
PMC7612008, 34762476
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj3125
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/332173
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