The conserved protein Maelstrom has multiple functions during Drosophila oogenesis. It is a component of the perinuclear nuage, a germline structure in which the piRNAs that are required for transposon silencing are produced. In addition, Maelstrom localised within the nucleus promotes germline stem cell differentiation by repressing expression of the microRNA miR-7. Here (p. 4505), Toshie Kai and co-workers describe a third way in which Maelstrom regulates oogenesis. They show that Maelstrom is phosphorylated in Drosophila ovaries and identify its conserved serine 138 residue as the phosphorylation site. Maelstrom phosphorylation, they report, is required for oocyte determination but not for transposon silencing or for germline stem cell differentiation. They also show that phosphorylation of Maelstrom represses the pachytene checkpoint (one of the two meiotic checkpoints in Drosophila), in part through downregulation of the checkpoint protein Sir2, and identify Polo as a kinase that mediates Maelstrom phosphorylation. Thus, the researchers propose, Polo-mediated phosphorylation of Maelstrom regulates oocyte determination in Drosophila ovaries by inactivating the pachytene checkpoint.
Maelstrom regulation of oocyte determination
Maelstrom regulation of oocyte determination. Development 15 December 2012; 139 (24): e2402. doi:
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