title: [Cell polarity and oocyte determination in Drosophila melanogaster].
abstract: During early oogenesis, one cell from a cyst of 16 germ cells is selected to become the oocyte. Recent data suggest that the choice of this cell within the cyst is strongly biased as early as the cyst itself forms. However, it was further shown that, although selected, the oocyte fate needs to be maintained. The maintenance of the oocyte identity requires the activity of the Drosophila homologues of the Caenorhabditis elegans par genes. It was shown that the par genes are required for the first polarisation of the oocyte as early as in region 3 of the germarium. This reveals a striking conservation between the polarisation along the antero-posterior axis of the Caenorhabditis elegans one-cell embryo and the Drosophila oocyte.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jacques-Monod, CNRS, Universités Paris 6 et 7, 2, place Jussieu, F-75251 Paris, France. huynh@ijm.jussieu.fr
authors.forename: Jean-René
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Huynh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3; D009865:Oocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D011494:Protein Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3; C472496:Par-1 protein, Drosophila