ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.

Sec. Molecular and Cellular Reproduction

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1535117

Myosin VI is expressed in developing ovarian follicles in Drosophila but is not essential for effective oogenesis

Provisionally accepted
Robert LenartowskiRobert Lenartowski1,2Jakub OstrowskiJakub Ostrowski1Anna SuwińskaAnna Suwińska1,2Anna RichertAnna Richert1Przemysław ZakrzewskiPrzemysław Zakrzewski3Magdalena IzdebskaMagdalena Izdebska4Wioletta ArendtWioletta Arendt4Kathryn G. MillerKathryn G. Miller5Marta LenartowskaMarta Lenartowska1,2*
  • 1Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Pomeranian, Poland
  • 2Centre for Modern Interdisciplinary Technologies, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Pomeranian, Poland
  • 3School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, England, United Kingdom
  • 4Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Pomeranian, Poland
  • 5Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St Louis, Missouri, United States

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Myosin VI is the only actin-based motor known to move toward the minus end of actin filaments. This protein is involved in many different cellular processes, such as endocytosis, autophagy, secretion, and regulation of actin organization and dynamics. Myosin VI has also been suggested to play an important role in collective migration of border cells and egg chamber development during Drosophila oogenesis. Here we show for the first time that myosin VI is expressed in Drosophila germarium as well as in early ovarian follicles, especially in the developing oocyte. As oogenesis progresses, the level of myosin VI in maturing egg chambers decreases, but this protein is present both in the nascent border cell cluster, during its delamination from the epithelium, and then during the early stages of border cell migration.However, we demonstrate that myosin VI deficiency in border cells, or even complete lack of this protein in myosin VI mutant do not inhibit border cell migration. Moreover, deficiency/lack of myosin VI does not cause any serious defects in ovarian morphology, egg chamber morphogenesis, oogenesis, and egg development. Thus we conclude that myosin VI is not a key player in Drosophila oogenesis.

Keywords: Binary system, border cell migration, Cell/molecular biology, Drosophila oogenesis, iRNA, myosin VI mutant

Received: 26 Nov 2024; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Lenartowski, Ostrowski, Suwińska, Richert, Zakrzewski, Izdebska, Arendt, Miller and Lenartowska. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Marta Lenartowska, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biological and Veterinary Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, 87-100, Pomeranian, Poland

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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