PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lin, H.
AU  - Yue, L.
AU  - Spradling, A.C.
TI  - The Drosophila fusome, a germline-specific organelle, contains membrane skeletal proteins and functions in cyst formation
DP  - 1994 Apr 01
TA  - Development
PG  - 947--956
VI  - 120
IP  - 4
4099  - http://dev.biologists.org/content/120/4/947.short
4100  - http://dev.biologists.org/content/120/4/947.full
SO  - Development1994 Apr 01; 120
AB  - Oogenesis in Drosophila takes place within germline cysts that support polarized transport through ring canals interconnecting their 15 nurse cells and single oocyte. Developing cystocytes are spanned by a large cytoplasmic structure known as the fusome that has been postulated to help form ring canals and determine the pattern of nurse cell-oocyte interconnections. We identified the adducin-like hts product and alpha-spectrin as molecular components of fusomes, discovered a related structure in germline stem cells and documented regular associations between fusomes and cystocyte centrosomes. hts mutations completely eliminated fusomes, causing abnormal cysts containing a reduced number of cells to form. Our results imply that Drosophila fusomes are required for ovarian cyst formation and suggest that membrane skeletal proteins regulate cystocyte divisions.