QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online 23 January 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.017590

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Material All Versions of this Article: dev.017590v1 135/5/839    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in Development Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tootle, T. L. Articles by Spradling, A. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tootle, T. L. Articles by Spradling, A. C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Drosophila Pxt: a cyclooxygenase-like facilitator of follicle maturation

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Carnegie Institution, Department of Embryology, 3520 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: spradling{at}ciwemb.edu)

Accepted 17 December 2007

Prostaglandins are local transient hormones that mediate a wide variety of biological events, including reproduction. The study of prostaglandin biology in a genetically tractable invertebrate model organism has been limited by the lack of clearly identified prostaglandin-mediated biological processes and prostaglandin metabolic genes, particularly analogs of cyclooxygenase (COX), the rate-limiting step in vertebrate prostaglandin synthesis. Here, we present pharmacological data that Drosophila ovarian follicle maturation requires COX-like activity and genetic evidence that this activity is supplied in vivo by the Drosophila peroxidase Pxt. pxt mutant females are sterile, and maturing follicles show defects in actin filament formation, nurse cell membrane stability and border cell migration. Maturation of pxt follicles in vitro is stimulated by prostaglandin treatment and fertility is restored in vivo to pxt mutants by expressing mammalian Cox1 protein. Our experiments suggest that prostaglandins promote Drosophila follicle maturation, in part by modulating the actin cytoskeleton, and establish Drosophila oogenesis as a model for understanding these critical biological regulators.

Key words: Prostaglandin, Cyclooxygenase, Actin, Ovarian follicle, Oogenesis

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Cyclooxygenase: vital role in follicle maturation

Development 2008 135: e502. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. Wang, V. V. Patel, E. Ricciotti, R. Zhou, M. D. Levin, E. Gao, Z. Yu, V. A. Ferrari, M. M. Lu, J. Xu, et al. Cardiomyocyte cyclooxygenase-2 influences cardiac rhythm and function PNAS, May 5, 2009; 106(18): 7548 - 7552. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A.C. Spradling, T. Nystul, D. Lighthouse, L. Morris, D. Fox, R. Cox, T. Tootle, R. Frederick, and A. Skora Stem Cells and Their Niches: Integrated Units That Maintain Drosophila Tissues Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, November 6, 2008; (2008) sqb.2008.73.023v1. [Abstract] [PDF]