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

Development 135, 839-847 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
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Drosophila Pxt: a cyclooxygenase-like facilitator of follicle maturation

Tina L. Tootle and Allan C. Spradling*

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


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Cyclooxygenase: vital role in follicle maturation

Development 2008 135: e502. [Full Text]  





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