Spring Break
Wandering fly eggs shed light on migration
Issue date: 9/13/07
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A pair of researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has devised a method to track and observe cell migration in real time. This technical breakthrough could pave the way to a better understanding of the growth and development of human tissues in health and disease.
The team, whose work was published in the June 7 issue of Developmental Cell, developed a method to culture parts of fruit fly ovaries called egg chambers. Egg chambers are packets of cells surrounding an oocyte, or developing female gamete.
At one point in the development of the oocyte, a group of six to ten cells opposite the oocyte migrate to the oocyte's border. These cells are consequently known as border cells, and their well-known pathway provides an excellent model for studies of cell migration. The new method allows for border cells to be selectively stained with fluorescent dyes and then filmed as they move, allowing precise description of their migratory patterns.
The research was performed by Mohit Prasad, a postdoctoral fellow, under the guidance of Denise Montell of the Department of Biological Chemistry. Montell is the chair of the Center for Cell Dynamics, a research initiative under the newly formed Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.
Cell migration is not limited to border cells in Drosophila egg chambers. Cell migration is crucial to embryonic development of all animals and plants. T cells, a type of white blood cell, need to migrate to mount an effective immune response. And in tumor metastasis, cancer cells migrate from the original site of the cancer to another site, which causes the spread of the disease.
Previously the observation of border cell migration relied on fixed tissue samples, essentially still photographs of the cells during migration. Migration could not be studied in vivo, or in living animals, because adult flies are opaque and the ovaries cannot be observed. Taking the growth chambers out of the flies immediately stops all growth and movement within the ovaries.
The team, whose work was published in the June 7 issue of Developmental Cell, developed a method to culture parts of fruit fly ovaries called egg chambers. Egg chambers are packets of cells surrounding an oocyte, or developing female gamete.
At one point in the development of the oocyte, a group of six to ten cells opposite the oocyte migrate to the oocyte's border. These cells are consequently known as border cells, and their well-known pathway provides an excellent model for studies of cell migration. The new method allows for border cells to be selectively stained with fluorescent dyes and then filmed as they move, allowing precise description of their migratory patterns.
The research was performed by Mohit Prasad, a postdoctoral fellow, under the guidance of Denise Montell of the Department of Biological Chemistry. Montell is the chair of the Center for Cell Dynamics, a research initiative under the newly formed Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.
Cell migration is not limited to border cells in Drosophila egg chambers. Cell migration is crucial to embryonic development of all animals and plants. T cells, a type of white blood cell, need to migrate to mount an effective immune response. And in tumor metastasis, cancer cells migrate from the original site of the cancer to another site, which causes the spread of the disease.
Previously the observation of border cell migration relied on fixed tissue samples, essentially still photographs of the cells during migration. Migration could not be studied in vivo, or in living animals, because adult flies are opaque and the ovaries cannot be observed. Taking the growth chambers out of the flies immediately stops all growth and movement within the ovaries.
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