Evidence for a highly selective RNA transport system and its role in establishing the dorsoventral axis of the Drosophila egg

Abstract

The specification of cell fates along the dorsoventral axis of the Drosophila embryo is dependent on the asymmetric distribution of proteins within the egg and within the egg's outer membranes. Such asymmetries arise during oogenesis and are dependent on multiple cell-cell interactions between the developing oocyte and its neighboring somatic follicle cells. The earliest known such interaction involves the generation of a signal in the oocyte and its reception in the follicle cells lying on the dorsal surface of the oocyte at approximately stage 10 of oogenesis. Several independent lines of investigation indicate that the fs(1)K10 (K10) gene negatively regulates the synthesis of the signal in the oocyte nucleus. Here we present data that indicate that the accumulation of K10 protein in the oocyte nucleus is a multistep process involving: (1) the synthesis of K10 RNA in nurse cells, (2) the rapid transport of K10 RNA from nurse cells into the oocyte, (3) the localization of K10 RNA to the anterior margin of the oocyte, and (4) K10 protein synthesis and localization. K10 RNA is transported into the oocyte continuously beginning at approximately stage 2. This indicates a high degree of selectivity in transport, since most RNAs synthesized in stage 2 and older nurse cells are stored there until stage 11, when nurse cells donate their entire cytoplasm to the oocyte. The sequences responsible for the early (pre-stage 11) and selective transport of K10 RNA into the oocyte map to the 3' transcribed non-translated region of the gene. None of the other identified genes involved in dorsoventral axis formation are required for K10 RNA transport.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)