The egg-shell of Drosophila melanogaster. VI, Structural analysis of the wax layer in laid eggs

Utilizing freeze-fracturing conventional electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy methods, a wax layer was identified, sealing the oocyte of Drosophila melanogaster. In mature egg-shells wax forms a hydrophobic layer surrounding the oocyte and lying between, and in very close contact with the vitelline membrane (interiorly) and the crystalline intermediate chorionic layer (exteriorly). In cross-fractured views it is less than 50 A thick whereas in longitudinal fracturing it reveals smooth fracture faces of a multilayered material in the form of hydrophobic areas or plaques (0.5-1 microns in diameter) which are partially overlapping and highly compressed between the vitelline membrane and the innermost chorionic layer. The evidence for this layer being a wax are the facts that a) it is not preserved in conventional fat-extracting electron microscopy methods, b) it directs laterally the fracture planes during freeze-fracturing and reveals smooth fracture faces. Analysis of the structural features of wax in mature egg-shell in various species of Drosophilidae have shown that the wax layer exhibits indistinguishable (among the species) hydrophobic plaques, which have the same size and thickness with Drosophila melanogaster. These data provide structural evidence explaining the physiological resistance of the insect eggs studied, against water loss or water uptake, whenever they are laid on substrates with extreme environmental conditions. In addition, the data demonstrate how an extracellular substance can be organized to perform that function.