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General Comment |
Sinka R, et al 2002 reported that poirot, a new regulatory gene of Drosophila oskar, acts at the
level of the short Oskar protein isoform
Embryonic germ cell formation and abdomen development in Drosophila requires
localisation and site specific translation of oskar mRNA in the posterior part
of the oocyte. Targeting of oskar function to the posterior pole of the oocyte
needs a large set of proteins and RNAs, encoded by posterior group genes.
Consequently, mutations in the posterior group genes can result in embryos
without abdomens and/or germ cells. During a systematic hobo-mediated mutant
isolation screen, the authors identified poirot, a novel posterior group gene, owing to
its germ cell-less phenotype and show that the lack of poirot activity
dramatically decreases OSK protein levels, without affecting the oskar mRNA
distribution. In poirot mutant oocytes, delocalised OSK protein is observed,
indicating that wild-type poirot has a role in the anchoring process of the
OSK protein at the posterior pole. Furthermore, poirot
acts in an isoform-specific manner, only the short OSK isoform is affected,
while the long OSK isoform remains at wild-type levels in poirot mutants.
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