A Combinatorial Code for Pattern Formation in Drosophila Oogenesis

Two-dimensional patterning of the follicular epithelium in Drosophila oogenesis is required for the formation of three-dimensional eggshell structures. Our analysis of a large number of published gene expression patterns in the follicle cells suggests that they follow a simple combinatorial code bas...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Developmental cell Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 725 - 737
Main Authors:	Yakoby, Nir, Bristow, Christopher A., Gong, Danielle, Schafer, Xenia, Lembong, Jessica, Zartman, Jeremiah J., Halfon, Marc S., Schüpbach, Trudi, Shvartsman, Stanislav Y.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge, MA Elsevier Inc 01-11-2008 Cell Press
Subjects:	Animals Biological and medical sciences Cell differentiation, maturation, development, hematopoiesis Cell physiology DEVBIO Drosophila Drosophila melanogaster - embryology Drosophila melanogaster - physiology Epithelium - metabolism Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Molecular and cellular biology Oogenesis Ovarian Follicle - metabolism SYSBIO SYSBIO DEVBIO Oogenesis Arthropoda Insecta Development Invertebrata Drosophila melanogaster Diptera Drosophilidae
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Summary:	Two-dimensional patterning of the follicular epithelium in Drosophila oogenesis is required for the formation of three-dimensional eggshell structures. Our analysis of a large number of published gene expression patterns in the follicle cells suggests that they follow a simple combinatorial code based on six spatial building blocks and the operations of union, difference, intersection, and addition. The building blocks are related to the distribution of inductive signals, provided by the highly conserved epidermal growth factor receptor and bone morphogenetic protein signaling pathways. We demonstrate the validity of the code by testing it against a set of patterns obtained in a large-scale transcriptional profiling experiment. Using the proposed code, we distinguish 36 distinct patterns for 81 genes expressed in the follicular epithelium and characterize their joint dynamics over four stages of oogenesis. The proposed combinatorial framework allows systematic analysis of the diversity and dynamics of two-dimensional transcriptional patterns and guides future studies of gene regulation.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Equal contributions
ISSN:	1534-5807 1878-1551
DOI:	10.1016/j.devcel.2008.09.008