Roach Tiffany V, Harsh Sneh, Sainath Rajiv, Bach Erika A, Lenhart Kari F
Biology Department, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Development. 2025 Aug 1;152(15). doi: 10.1242/dev.204785. Epub 2025 Aug 7.
Establishment and maintenance of cellular sex identity is essential for reproduction. Sex identity of somatic and germline cells must correspond for sperm or oocytes to be produced, with mismatched identity causing infertility in all organisms from flies to humans. In adult Drosophila testes, Chronologically inappropriate morphogenesis (Chinmo) is required for maintenance of male somatic identity. Loss of chinmo leads to feminization of the male soma, including adoption of female-specific cell morphologies and gene expression. However, the degree to which feminized somatic cells initiate female-specific cellular behaviors or influence the associated XY germline is unknown. Using extended live imaging, we find that chinmo-depleted somatic cells acquire cell behaviors characteristic of ovarian follicle cells, including incomplete cytokinesis and rotational migration. Importantly, migration in both contexts require the basement membrane protein Perlecan and the adhesion protein E-cadherin. Finally, we find that sex-converted somatic cells non-autonomously induce expression of an early oocyte specification protein in XY germ cells. Taken together, our work reveals a dramatic transformation of somatic cell behavior during sex conversion and provides a powerful model in which to study soma-derived induction of oocyte identity.
细胞性身份的建立和维持对于生殖至关重要。体细胞和生殖细胞的性身份必须相符才能产生精子或卵子，身份不匹配会导致从果蝇到人类的所有生物体出现不育。在成年果蝇睾丸中，时序不当形态发生（Chinmo）对于维持雄性体细胞身份是必需的。Chinmo缺失会导致雄性体细胞雌性化，包括出现雌性特异性细胞形态和基因表达。然而，雌性化的体细胞启动雌性特异性细胞行为或影响相关XY生殖细胞的程度尚不清楚。通过长时间实时成像，我们发现Chinmo缺失的体细胞获得了卵巢卵泡细胞特有的细胞行为，包括不完全胞质分裂和旋转迁移。重要的是，在这两种情况下的迁移都需要基底膜蛋白Perlecan和粘附蛋白E-钙粘蛋白。最后，我们发现性别转换的体细胞会非自主地诱导XY生殖细胞中早期卵母细胞特异性蛋白的表达。综上所述，我们的工作揭示了性别转换过程中体细胞行为的巨大转变，并提供了一个强大的模型来研究体细胞衍生的卵母细胞身份诱导。
