title: spoonbill, a new Drosophila female-sterile mutation, interferes with chromosome organization and dorsal-ventral patterning of the egg.
abstract: We have identified a new mutation, spoonbill (spoon), which interferes with two developmental processes during Drosophila oogenesis, nurse cell-nuclei chromatin organization and anterior-dorsal patterning of the eggshell. Here, we describe the localization patterns of key regulators of axis determination and the expression of follicle cell-specific markers involved in eggshell patterning in egg chambers from spoonbill females. Our molecular characterization of the patterning defects associated with the mutation reveals abnormalities in two major signaling pathways, the grk/Egfr and the Dpp/TGF-beta, that together control the elaborate patterning of the anterior follicular epithelium. The function of spoonbill appears to be required for dpp transcription in a specialized population of follicle cells and for the selective transport of grk mRNA from the nurse cells into the oocyte, as well as for its proper localization and translation. This finding places the spoonbill gene upstream of both pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics of Development, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University Cancer Research Center, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Shmulik
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Motola
authors.forename: F Shira
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Neuman-Silberberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D002875:Chromosomes; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D009866:Oogenesis; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D029721:Drosophila Proteins