First published online December 21, 2007
Development 135, 201e (2008)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Outside the gonad: a story of p53 and cell death
In animal embryos, primordial germ cells (PGCs) migrate long distances to
the developing gonads. During this journey, programmed cell death removes
abnormal, misplaced or excess cells. The regulation of this process, which
ensures germline integrity, is poorly understood. Now, Clark Coffman and
co-workers report that the tumour suppressor p53 and Outsiders (a
monocarboxylate transporter) regulate programmed cell death during PGC
development in Drosophila (see
p. 207). They show that
in loss-of-function p53 and outsiders embryos, the
programmed cell death (but not migration) of PGCs is abnormal, resulting in
the persistence of ectopic PGCs outside of the gonads. This p53
phenotype (the first developmental phenotype seen for loss of Drosophila
p53 function) closely resembles that of outsiders mutants, note
the researchers. Furthermore, overexpression of p53 in the PGCs of
outsiders embryos partly suppresses the cell death phenotype. Thus,
p53 and Outsiders may function in a common pathway to eliminate a subset of
PGCs during embryogenesis.
Related articles in Development:
- Programmed cell death of primordial germ cells in Drosophila is regulated by p53 and the Outsiders monocarboxylate transporter
- Yukiko Yamada, Keri D. Davis, and Clark R. Coffman
Development 2008 135: 207-216.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
