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Upright Imaging of Drosophila Egg Chambers
Published on: March 13, 2015
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Diversity of epithelial morphogenesis during eggshell formation in drosophilids
Miriam Osterfield1, Trudi Schüpbach2, Eric Wieschaus2
1Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA mosterfi@princeton.edu.
Development (Cambridge, England)
|May 9, 2015
Summary
Drosophilid eggshell appendages show diverse formation mechanisms. Different cell shape changes and neighbor exchanges create species-specific structures, revealing origins of morphological diversity.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Evolutionary developmental biology
- Cell biology
Background:
- Drosophilid eggshells offer a model for studying morphological diversity.
- Dorsal appendages (respiratory filaments) exhibit significant interspecies variation in number and shape.
- Epithelial patterning during appendage formation is under active investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the morphogenesis of dorsal appendages in drosophilid species.
- To investigate the cellular mechanisms driving appendage formation.
- To explore the origins of interspecies morphological variation in eggshell structures.
Main Methods:
- Developed an improved 3D image reconstruction approach.
- Analyzed cell shape changes and neighbor exchanges during appendage development.
- Examined localization patterns of Par3/Bazooka.
Main Results:
- Revealed interspecies variation in cell shape changes and neighbor exchanges.
- Identified distinct mechanisms for appendage floor formation in Drosophila melanogaster (neighbor exchanges), Scaptodrosophila pattersoni (cell shape changes), and Drosophila funebris (combination).
- Suggested a self-organized, cell polarity-based origin for appendage number variability in S. pattersoni.
Conclusions:
- Species utilize different combinations of apical and basal mechanisms for 3D structure formation from 2D primordia.
- Provides new avenues for exploring molecular underpinnings of morphological diversity.
- Highlights the role of cellular processes in generating species-specific eggshell structures.
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