Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstr. 35, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Dev Biol. 2014 Aug 15;392(2):193-208. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.05.026. Epub 2014 Jun 11.
The formation of the Drosophila embryonic gonad, involving the fusion of clusters of somatic gonadal precursor cells (SGPs) and their ensheathment of germ cells, provides a simple and genetically tractable model for the interplay between cells during organ formation. In a screen for mutants affecting gonad formation we identified a SGP cell autonomous role for Midline (Mid) and Longitudinals lacking (Lola). These transcriptional factors are required for multiple aspects of SGP behaviour including SGP cluster fusion, germ cell ensheathment and gonad compaction. The lola locus encodes more than 25 differentially spliced isoforms and we have identified an isoform specific requirement for lola in the gonad which is distinct from that in nervous system development. Mid and Lola work in parallel in gonad formation and surprisingly Mid overexpression in a lola background leads to additional SGPs at the expense of fat body cells. Our findings support the idea that although the transcription factors required by SGPs can ostensibly be assigned to those being required for either SGP specification or behaviour, they can also interact to impinge on both processes.
果蝇胚胎生殖腺的形成，涉及到体生殖腺前体细胞（SGPs）簇的融合及其对生殖细胞的包绕，为器官形成过程中细胞之间的相互作用提供了一个简单且可遗传的模型。在一个影响生殖腺形成的突变体筛选中，我们鉴定出 Midline（Mid）和 Longitudinals lacking（Lola）在 SGP 细胞中具有自主性作用。这些转录因子对于 SGP 行为的多个方面都是必需的，包括 SGP 簇融合、生殖细胞包绕和生殖腺紧缩。lola 基因座编码超过 25 种不同拼接的异构体，我们已经鉴定出 lola 在生殖腺中具有一种异构体特异性的需求，与神经系统发育中的需求不同。Mid 和 Lola 在生殖腺形成中平行工作，令人惊讶的是，在 lola 背景下过表达 Mid 会导致额外的 SGP，而牺牲脂肪体细胞。我们的发现支持这样一种观点，即尽管 SGPs 需要的转录因子可以表面上被分配给那些对 SGP 特异性或行为都需要的转录因子，但它们也可以相互作用，影响这两个过程。
