Oskar controls morphology of polar granules and nuclear bodies in Drosophila

Germ cell formation in Drosophila relies on polar granules, which are large ribonucleoprotein complexes found at the posterior end of the embryo. The granules undergo characteristic changes in morphology during development, including the assembly of multiple spherical bodies from smaller precursors. Several polar granule components, both protein and RNA, have been identified. One of these, the protein Oskar, acts to initiate granule formation during oogenesis and to recruit other granule components. To investigate whether Oskar has a continuing role in organization of the granules and control of their morphology, we took advantage of species-specific differences in polar granule structure. The polar granules of D. immigrans fuse into a single large oblong aggregate, as opposed to the multiple, distinct, spherical granules of D. melanogaster embryos. D. immigrans oskar rescues the body patterning and pole cell defects of embryos from D. melanogaster oskar(-) mothers, and converts the morphology of the polar granules to that of D. immigrans. The nuclear bodies, which are structures that appear to be closely related to polar granules, are also converted to the D. immigrans type morphology. We conclude that oskar plays a persistent and central role in the polar granules, not only initiating their formation but also controlling their organization and morphology.