Abstract
The maternal RNA-binding proteins Pumilio (Pum) and Nanos (Nos) act together to specify the abdomen in Drosophila embryos. Both proteins later accumulate in pole cells, the germline progenitors. Nos is required for pole cells to differentiate into functional germline. Here we show that Pum is also essential for germline development in embryos. First, a mutation in pum causes a defect in pole-cell migration into the gonads. Second, in such pole cells, the expression of a germline-specific marker (PZ198) is initiated prematurely. Finally, pum mutation causes premature mitosis in the migrating pole cells. We show that Pum inhibits pole-cell division by repressing translation of cyclin B messenger RNA. As these phenotypes are indistinguishable from those produced by nos mutation, we conclude that Pum acts together with Nos to regulate these germline-specific events.
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Acknowledgements
We thank R. Lehmann for nosBN, pumFC8 and pumMscflies; S. Larochelle for information about cell-cycle markers; and P. Lasko for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan, by the Tsukuba Advanced Research Alliance Project, by the Toray Science Foundation, by the Sumitomo Foundation, by a Research Project for Future Program from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and by the Hayashi Memorial Foundation for Female Natural Scientists.
Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to S.K.
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Asaoka-Taguchi, M., Yamada, M., Nakamura, A. et al. Maternal Pumilio acts together with Nanos in germline development in Drosophila embryos. Nat Cell Biol 1, 431–437 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/15666
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/15666
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