Coupled oscillators coordinate collective germline growth.
Developing oocytes need large supplies of macromolecules and organelles. A conserved strategy for accumulating these products is to pool resources of oocyte-associated germline nurse cells. In Drosophila, these cells grow more than 100-fold to boost their biosynthetic capacity. No previously known mechanism explains how nurse cells coordinate growth collectively. Here, we report a cell cycle-regulating mechanism that depends on bidirectional communication between the oocyte and nurse cells, revealing the oocyte as a critical regulator of germline cyst growth. Transcripts encoding the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, Dacapo, are synthesized by the nurse cells and actively localized to the oocyte. Retrograde movement of the oocyte-synthesized Dacapo protein to the nurse cells generates a network of coupled oscillators that controls the cell cycle of the nurse cells to regulate cyst growth. We propose that bidirectional nurse cell-oocyte communication establishes a growth-sensing feedback mechanism that regulates the quantity of maternal resources loaded into the oocyte.
Duke Scholars
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- Oogenesis
- Oocytes
- Nuclear Proteins
- Germ Cells
- Female
- Drosophila melanogaster
- Drosophila Proteins
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Differentiation
- Cell Communication
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Oogenesis
- Oocytes
- Nuclear Proteins
- Germ Cells
- Female
- Drosophila melanogaster
- Drosophila Proteins
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Differentiation
- Cell Communication