nuclear-migration-in-the-drosophila-oocyte

Nuclear Migration in the <em>Drosophila</em> Oocyte

Live cell imaging is particularly necessary to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate organelle movements, cytoskeleton ...

Université de Paris, CNRS, Institut Jacques Monod

Phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs) are essential membrane components. They are localized at distinct membrane domains and recruit distinct effectors; they play an important role in the maintenance of membrane identity. They are essential for many cellular functions that include membrane trafficking, cytoskeletal organization, cell polarity and tissue morphogenesis. Cell polarity is also controlled by a set of polarity proteins, the PAR proteins, well conserved among bilaterians. These proteins are part of two dynamic networks that are engaged in a mutual negative-feedback regulation. PAR proteins control cell polarity by regulating cytoskeletal organization, asymmetric distributions of cellular components and directional transport through the cells. They share common activities with the PIPs in the control of intracellular polarity. Therefore, the analysis of potential cross talks between polarity proteins and PIPs is particularly important. The Drosophila egg chamber provides a very good model system to study the processes that control cell polarity. It includes the oocyte, a large cell in which asymmetric transport is very easy to monitor. Furthermore, the oocyte is surrounded by a follicular epithelium that allows the study of cross talks between polarity and tissue morphogenesis. This review focuses on the polarization of Drosophila egg chamber and our understanding of PIPs requirement during Drosophila oogenesis and discusses the relationship between PIPs and polarity proteins.

Phosphoinositides and Cell Polarity in the Drosophila Egg Chamber.

Both types of Drosophila egg chamber germ cells, i.e. oocyte and nurse cells, have to control their nucleus positions in order to produce a viable gamete. Interestingly, while actin microfilaments are crucial to position the nuclei in nurse cells, these are the microtubules that are important for oocyte nucleus to migrate and adopt the correct position. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms underlying these positioning processes in the two cell types with respect to the organization and dynamics of the actin and microtubule skeleton. In the nurse cells it is essential to keep firmly the nuclei in a central position to prevent them from obstructing the ring canals when the cytoplasmic content of the cells is dumped into the oocyte cells toward the end of oogenesis. This is achieved by the assembly of thick filopodia-like actin cables anchored to the plasma membrane, which grow inwardly and eventually encase tightly the nuclei in a cage-like structure. In the oocyte, the migration at an early stage of oogenesis of the nucleus from a posterior location to an anchorage site at an asymmetric anterior position, is an essential step in the setting up of the dorsoventral polarity axis of the future embryo. This process is controlled by an interplay between MT networks that just start to be untangled. Although both mechanisms have evolved to fulfill cell-type specific cell processes in the context of fly oogenesis, interesting parallels can be drawn with other nuclear positioning mechanisms in the mouse oocyte and the developing muscle respectively.

Antoine Guichet

Université de Paris, CNRS, Institut Jacques Monod

Nuclear Migration in the Drosophila Oocyte