The mechanics behind the Drosophila egg

The formation and the development of the Drosophila egg involves multiple mechanical cross-talks between germline cells, somatic cells and the surrounding basement membrane. In this review, we discuss several development stages when the sources, as well as the roles, of mechanical forces in egg shape establishment are well defined. The examples described here illustrate the diversity of these forces as well as of the tools used to measure them and of the outcome each of them generates. We examine their contributions and their integration to morphogenesis. We discuss the limitations of our current knowledge, the importance of developing novel approaches and the support that modelling could bring to tackle some issues. One major future challenge is to understand how robustness in shaping the egg is achieved when the contributors act in different cell types and at different times. Studying Drosophila egg formation thus remains an exciting model in developmental biology as it must integrate a variety of biomechanical inputs from its environment, in addition of the biochemical signals discovered in the past.