Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis
During oogenesis, self-renewal and differentiation of germline stem cells (GSCs) must be tightly regulated. The Drosophila female germline serves as an excellent model for studying these regulatory mechanisms. Here, we report that a previously uncharacterized gene CG14545, which we named sakura, is...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-07-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103828 |
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| author | Azali Azlan Li Zhu Ryuya Fukunaga |
| author_facet | Azali Azlan Li Zhu Ryuya Fukunaga |
| author_sort | Azali Azlan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During oogenesis, self-renewal and differentiation of germline stem cells (GSCs) must be tightly regulated. The Drosophila female germline serves as an excellent model for studying these regulatory mechanisms. Here, we report that a previously uncharacterized gene CG14545, which we named sakura, is essential for oogenesis and female fertility in Drosophila. Sakura is predominantly expressed in the ovaries, particularly in the germline cells, including GSCs. sakura null mutant female flies display rudimentary ovaries with germline-less and tumorous phenotypes, fail to produce eggs, and are completely sterile. The germline-specific depletion of sakura impairs Dpp/BMP signaling, leading to aberrant bag-of-marbles (bam) expression, resulting in faulty differentiation and loss of GSCs. sakura is also necessary for normal levels of piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) levels and for female-specific splicing of sex-lethal (sxl), a master regulator of sex identity determination. We identified Ovarian Tumor (Otu) as a protein binding partner of Sakura and found that loss of otu phenocopies loss of sakura in ovaries. Thus, we identify Sakura as a crucial factor for GSC renewal and differentiation and oogenesis, and propose that Sakura and Otu function together in these processes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-70a8ee110a4f4f989e5b0eebf81c2fb0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
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| series | eLife |
| spelling | doaj-art-70a8ee110a4f4f989e5b0eebf81c2fb02025-08-20T02:39:16ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-07-011310.7554/eLife.103828Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesisAzali Azlan0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6474-4875Li Zhu1Ryuya Fukunaga2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5814-8206Department of Cell Biology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United StatesDepartment of Cell Biology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United StatesDepartment of Cell Biology Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United StatesDuring oogenesis, self-renewal and differentiation of germline stem cells (GSCs) must be tightly regulated. The Drosophila female germline serves as an excellent model for studying these regulatory mechanisms. Here, we report that a previously uncharacterized gene CG14545, which we named sakura, is essential for oogenesis and female fertility in Drosophila. Sakura is predominantly expressed in the ovaries, particularly in the germline cells, including GSCs. sakura null mutant female flies display rudimentary ovaries with germline-less and tumorous phenotypes, fail to produce eggs, and are completely sterile. The germline-specific depletion of sakura impairs Dpp/BMP signaling, leading to aberrant bag-of-marbles (bam) expression, resulting in faulty differentiation and loss of GSCs. sakura is also necessary for normal levels of piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) levels and for female-specific splicing of sex-lethal (sxl), a master regulator of sex identity determination. We identified Ovarian Tumor (Otu) as a protein binding partner of Sakura and found that loss of otu phenocopies loss of sakura in ovaries. Thus, we identify Sakura as a crucial factor for GSC renewal and differentiation and oogenesis, and propose that Sakura and Otu function together in these processes.https://elifesciences.org/articles/103828germline stem celloogenesisfertilityovaryovarian tumor |
| spellingShingle | Azali Azlan Li Zhu Ryuya Fukunaga Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis eLife germline stem cell oogenesis fertility ovary ovarian tumor |
| title | Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| title_full | Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| title_fullStr | Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| title_short | Female-germline specific protein Sakura interacts with Otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| title_sort | female germline specific protein sakura interacts with otu and is crucial for germline stem cell renewal and differentiation and oogenesis |
| topic | germline stem cell oogenesis fertility ovary ovarian tumor |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/103828 |
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