BMP Signaling and the Maintenance of Primordial Germ Cell Identity in Drosophila Embryos

The specification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) and subsequent maintenance of germ-line identity in Drosophila embryos has long been thought to occur solely under the control of cell-autonomous factors deposited in the posterior pole plasm during oogenesis. However, here we document a novel role f...

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Veröffentlicht in:	PloS one Jg. 9; H. 2; S. e88847
Hauptverfasser:	Deshpande, Girish, Willis, Elinor, Chatterjee, Sandip, Fernandez, Robert, Dias, Kristen, Schedl, Paul
Format:	Journal Article
Sprache:	Englisch
Veröffentlicht:	United States Public Library of Science 14.02.2014 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Schlagworte:	Animals Autocrine Communication Biology Bone morphogenetic proteins Bone Morphogenetic Proteins - metabolism Cell division Cell Nucleus - metabolism Cell signaling Coalescence Coalescing Down-Regulation Drosophila Drosophila melanogaster - cytology Drosophila melanogaster - embryology Drosophila Proteins - metabolism Embryo, Nonmammalian - cytology Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism Embryonic Development Embryos Gene expression Germ cells Germ Cells - cytology Germ Cells - metabolism Homology Insects Maintenance Molecular biology Oogenesis Phosphorylation Signal Transduction Signaling Stem cells
ISSN:	1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online-Zugang:	Volltext
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Zusammenfassung:	The specification of primordial germ cells (PGCs) and subsequent maintenance of germ-line identity in Drosophila embryos has long been thought to occur solely under the control of cell-autonomous factors deposited in the posterior pole plasm during oogenesis. However, here we document a novel role for somatic BMP signaling in the maintenance of PGC fate during the period leading up to embryonic gonad coalescence. We find that PGCs fail to maintain their germline identity when BMP signaling is compromised. They initiate but are unable to properly assemble the germline stem cell-specific organelle, the spectrosome, and they lose expression of the germline-specific gene Vasa. BMP signaling must, however, be finely tuned as there are deleterious consequences to PGCs when the pathway is excessively active. We show that one mechanism used to calibrate the effects of BMP signals is dependent on the Ubc9 homolog Lesswright (Lwr).
Bibliographie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 Current address: Department of Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Conceived and designed the experiments: GD EW PS. Performed the experiments: GD EW SC RF KD. Analyzed the data: GD EW SC RF KD. Wrote the paper: GD EW PS. Current address: Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, California, United States of America Current address: Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry BBS Program, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America Current address: School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0088847