Abstract
The conversion of stationary epithelial cells into migratory, invasive cells is important for normal embryonic development and tumour metastasis. Border-cell migration in the ovary of Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a simple, genetically tractable model for studying this process. Three distinct signals, which are also upregulated in cancer, control border-cell migration, so identifying further genes that are involved in border-cell migration could provide new insights into tumour invasion.
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The author would like to thank all the members of her laboratory for critical reading of the manuscript and their contributions to the work that is described.
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Glossary
- NURSE CELL
-
An auxiliary cell that supplies the oocyte with synthesized messenger RNAs and proteins during insect oogenesis.
- POLYPLOID CELL
-
A cell that has three or more times the haploid number of chromosomes in its nucleus.
- HAEMOLYMPH
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A fluid that is present in the second body cavity of some invertebrates. It is considered to be functionally equivalent to the blood and lymph of higher organisms.
- P-ELEMENT
-
A transposable element from Drosophila melanogaster that has been extremely useful both as an insertional mutagen and as a vector for generating transgenic animals.
- POINTED END
-
This is defined by the arrowhead appearance of myosin head fragments that are bound to the actin filaments.
- CELL AUTONOMY
-
A gene is said to act cell autonomously if the cell that shows the mutant phenotype is the cell in which that gene functions. Most genes act cell autonomously. Conversely, a gene acts non-automonously if expression of the gene in one cell influences the phenotype of a different cell.
- SRC-HOMOLOGY-2 DOMAIN
-
(SH2 domain). A protein motif that recognizes and binds tyrosine-phosphorylated sequences, and thereby has a key role in relaying cascades of signal transduction.
- NULL ALLELE
-
A mutation that completely eliminates the function of a gene.
- DOMINANT-NEGATIVE
-
A defective protein that retains its interaction abilities and so distorts or competes with normal proteins.
- HYPOMORPHIC ALLELE
-
A mutation that reduces but does not eliminate the function of a gene.
- NEURAL CREST
-
A group of embryonic cells that separate from the embryonic neural plate and migrate, giving rise to the spinal and autonomic ganglia, peripheral glia, chromaffin cells, melanocytes and some haematopoietic cells.
- KERATINOCYTE
-
A differentiated epithelial cell of the skin.
- PENETRANT
-
A phenotype that is completely penetrant is equally strong in every cell that is homozygous for the mutation. Conversely, an incompletely penetrant phenotype is manifest in some mutant cells, or individuals, but is not obvious in others.
- ADHERENS JUNCTION
-
A cell–cell adhesion complex that is composed of cadherins and catenins that are attached to cytoplasmic actin filaments.
- SEPTATE JUNCTION
-
A junction basal to the zonula adherens in Drosophila epithelial cells. It is thought to function similarly to the tight junction in vertebrate cells.
- GAP JUNCTION
-
A communicating junction (permeant to molecules up to 1 kDa) between adjacent cells, which is composed of 12 connexin protein subunits, six of which form a connexon or hemichannel that is contributed by each of the coupled cells.
- DELAMINATE
-
To emerge from an epithelial layer.
- RNA INTERFERENCE
-
(RNAi). The process by which an introduced double-stranded RNA silences specifically the expression of genes through degradation of their cognate messenger RNAs.
- PRIMORDIUM
-
An organ or part at the earliest stage of its development; a rudiment.
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Montell, D. Border-cell migration: the race is on. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 4, 13–24 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1006
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1006
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