Disease relevance of fs(1)K10

• The K10 female sterility locus involved in establishment of the embryonic dorsoventral axis maps genetically to the 2E2-2F1 interval of the Drosophila X chromosome [1].

High impact information on fs(1)K10

• Both genes lie midway in an epistatic series between fs(1)K10 and dorsal; the mutations block the dorsalization normally observed in K10 eggs but have no effect on the phenotype of embryos derived from dorsal mothers [2].
• A 43 kilobase cosmid P transposon rescues the fs(1)K10 morphogenetic locus and three adjacent Drosophila developmental mutants [1].
• Clone cos9, containing a 43 kb insert, transformed the germ line of homozygous K10 females and allowed production of normal progeny [1].
• During oogenesis, the K10 gene is specifically expressed in the oocyte [3].
• Antibodies raised against a beta-galactosidase-K10 fusion protein were used to visualize the K10 product in ovaries by indirect immunofluorescence [3].

Biological context of fs(1)K10

• Such studies identify a 44 nucleotide sequence within the K10 3' untranslated region that is required and sufficient for K10 mRNA transport and subsequent localization to the oocyte's anterior cortex [4].
• A few early-acting genes, K10, top, grk and cni, have been identified which are assumed to function in a signal transduction process between the germline oocyte and the somatic follicle cells, during which the egg chamber acquires a dorsoventral polarity [5].
• We conclude that the anterior localization of K10 mRNA is not important for K10 protein targeting or gene function [6].
• We also show that modified K10 transgenes that produce transcripts which are uniformly distributed throughout the oocyte, or which are mislocalized to the oocyte's posterior pole, produce localized and functional K10 protein [6].
• The similarities in the transport/ early localization kinetics and dynamics of K10, bicoid, and oskar mRNAs suggest that such events are mediated by a common set of factors [7].

Anatomical context of fs(1)K10

• In mutant oocytes, transcripts of the dorsal determinant Gurken, a transforming growth factor-alpha homologue, fail to localize properly around the anterodorsal surface of the oocyte nucleus; their ventral spread results in dorsalized eggs that resemble those of the classical dorsalizing mutations squid and fs(1)K10 [8].
• A change in distribution of the germ-line signal as caused by fs(1)K10, squid and orb mutations leads to a shift in the orientation of the embryonic dorsoventral axis relative to the anterior-posterior axis [9].

Other interactions of fs(1)K10

• This result demonstrates that GRK protein levels sufficient to dorsalize the egg chamber can accumulate in vas mutants, if fs(1)K10 is also mutant [10].
• Moreover, we find that the K10 TLS overrides the activity of oskar cis-regulatory elements that mediate the late stage movement of the mRNA to the posterior pole [4].

References