Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Dissection and Staining of Drosophila Larval Ovaries
07:40

Dissection and Staining of Drosophila Larval Ovaries

Published on: May 13, 2011

Abdominal segmentation, pole cell formation, and embryonic polarity require the localized activity of oskar, a

R Lehmann, C Nüsslein-Volhard

    Cell
    |October 10, 1986
    PubMed

    Insights

    Oskar (osk) activity is essential for embryonic development, controlling pole cell formation and abdominal segmentation. This posterior pole plasm activity can also induce a secondary developmental center.

    Area of Science:

    • Developmental biology
    • Genetics
    • Cell biology

    Background:

    • Embryos from oskar mutant females lack pole cells and exhibit unsegmented abdomens.
    • The posterior pole plasm is crucial for initiating embryonic development.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the functions of oskar (osk)-dependent activity in embryonic development.
    • To determine the localization and specific roles of osk activity.

    Main Methods:

    • Transplantation of cytoplasm from normal embryos into mutant embryos.
    • Analysis of pole cell formation and abdominal segmentation in manipulated embryos.

    Main Results:

    • Osk-dependent activity is localized to the posterior pole.
    • Transplantation of osk activity rescues pole cell formation and abdominal segmentation.
    • Osk activity can induce a secondary posterior developmental center at the anterior pole.

    Conclusions:

    • Oskar product is vital for establishing the posterior pole plasm's morphogenetic activity.
    • Osk plays a critical role in initiating key developmental processes, including germ cell formation and body patterning.

    More Related Videos

    Sonication-facilitated Immunofluorescence Staining of Late-stage Embryonic and Larval Drosophila Tissues In Situ10:10

    Sonication-facilitated Immunofluorescence Staining of Late-stage Embryonic and Larval Drosophila Tissues In Situ

    Published on: August 14, 2014

    Upright Imaging of Drosophila Egg Chambers12:29

    Upright Imaging of Drosophila Egg Chambers

    Published on: March 13, 2015

    Related Concept Videos

    Cleavage and Blastulation01:33

    Cleavage and Blastulation

    After a large-single-celled zygote is produced via fertilization, the process of cleavage occurs while zygotes travel through the uterine tube. Cleavage is a mitotic cell division that does not result in growth. With each round of successive cell division, daughter cells get increasingly smaller.
    The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes02:45

    The Ratio of X Chromosome to Autosomes

    In most organisms, sex is determined by the ratio of X and Y chromosomes. However, in some organisms, such as Drosophila and C.elegans, sex is determined by the ratio of the number of X chromosomes to the number of sets of autosomes. The Y chromosome in Drosophila is active but does not determine sex. It contains genes responsible for the production of sperms in adult flies.  
    Normal male Drosophila has a ratio of one X chromosome to two sets of autosomes. In contrast, normal female Drosophila...
    Cell Polarization by Rho Proteins01:21

    Cell Polarization by Rho Proteins

    Cell polarity is the asymmetric distribution of cellular and membrane components, making one side of the cell different from the other. This polarity is essential to many processes such as embryogenesis, axon migration, glucose transport across epithelial cells, and directional cell migration. A migrating cell responds to intracellular or extracellular signals via molecular cascades that reorganize the actin cytoskeleton to establish this polarity. In these cells, the Rho family proteins Cdc42,...
    Oogenesis01:22

    Oogenesis

    Oogenesis,  the process of developing egg cells (female gametes), occurs within the ovaries and is fundamental to female fertility. This sequence begins during fetal development when diploid oogonia in the developing ovaries undergo mitotic divisions to produce primary oocytes. By birth, these primary oocytes enter prophase I of meiosis but become arrested in this stage, remaining suspended until puberty.
    Each primary oocyte is surrounded by a layer of pre-granulosa cells, forming what is known...