Single-cell RNA sequencing of adultDrosophilaovary identifies transcriptional programs governing oogenesis

Abstract

Oogenesis is a complex developmental process that involves spatiotemporally regulated coordination between the germline and supporting, somatic cell populations. This process has been modelled extensively using the Drosophila ovary. While 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 dataset for the adult Drosophila ovary and connected tissues. This dataset captures the entire transcriptional trajectory of the developing follicle cell population over time. Our findings provide detailed insight into processes such as cell-cycle switching, migration, symmetry breaking, nurse cell engulfment, egg-shell formation, and signaling during corpus luteum formation, marking a newly identified oogenesis-to-ovulation transition. Altogether, these findings provide a broad perspective on oogenesis at a single-cell resolution while revealing new genetic markers and fate-specific transcriptional signatures to facilitate future studies.

Distinct roles of Bendless in regulating FSC niche competition and daughter cell differentiation

“…Thus, we have revealed a new layer of regulation within the signaling network that controls cell behavior in the early FSC lineage. The recently published single cell atlases of the adult Drosophila ovary (Jevitt et al, 2020;Li et al, 2021;Slaidina et al, 2021), revealed a continuum of changes in gene expression that occur during cellular differentiation in the early FSC lineage, and provide the tools for characterizing this signaling network in a cell-type Ben positively regulates JNK signaling in the FSC lineage. JNK signaling downregulates the EGFR signaling reporter pERK and may promote Notch signaling in pFCs.…”