A single-cell atlas of adult < i > Drosophila < /i > ovary identifies transcriptional programs and somatic cell lineage regulating oogenesis

by Allison Jevitt, Deeptiman Chatterjee, Gengqiang Xie, Xian-Feng Wang, Taylor Otwell, Yi-Chun Huang, Wu-Min Deng Oogenesis is a complex developmental process that involves spatiotemporally regulated coordination between the germline and supporting, somatic cell populations. This process has been modeled extensively using theDrosophila ovary. Although different ovarian cell types have been identified through traditional means, the large-scale expression profiles underlying each cell type remain unknown. Using single-cell RNA sequencing technology, we have built a transcriptomic data set for the adultDrosophila ovary and connected tissues. Using this data set, we identified the transcriptional trajectory of the entire follicle-cell population over the course of their development from stem cells to the oogenesis-to-ovulation transition. We further identify expression patterns during essential developmental events that take place in somatic and germline cell types such as differentiation, cell-cycle switching, migration, symmetry breaking, nurse-cell engulfment, egg-shell formation, and corpus luteum signaling. Extensive experimental validation of unique expression patterns in both ovarian and nearby, nonovarian cells also led to the identification of many new cell type –and stage-specific markers. The inclusion of several nearby tissue types in this data set also led to our identification of functional convergence in expression between distantly related cell types such as th...
Source: PLoS Biology: Archived Table of Contents - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: research