Drosophila Migration Gene Screens

Identification of genes up-regulated in migratory cells

wt-migratory cells

Border cells and centripetal cells (two migratory cell types) were purified from dissociated ovaries that were dissected from wild-type Drosophila females, as described. RNA was isolated from the purified cells, reverse transcribed into cDNA and converted into a labeled cRNA "target" which was used to interrogate Affymetrix whole Drosophila genome microarrays.

The complete list of genes can be searched to find out if any particular gene of interest is expressed detectably in this purified cell population. In addition, the complete list of genes expressed in the wild-type border cells and centripetal cells can be compared to the genes expressed in the non-migratory population to define those genes whose expression is higher or lower in the migratory population compared to the non-migratory population. The genes expressed detectably in the migratory cells can also be compared to the genes expressed in the migratory cells purified from slbo mutants (see page), in order to define those genes that are targets of the transcription factor encoded by the slbo locus.

Compare mRNA expression in wt-migratory cells vs wt-non-migratory cells

wt-non-migratory cells

Ovaries were dissected from wild-type Drosophila females and dissociated into single cells as described. The border cells and centripetal cells (i.e. migratory cells) were removed and RNA was isolated from the remaining cells (i.e., non-migratory cells). The RNA was reverse transcribed into cDNA and converted into a labeled cRNA "target" which was used to interrogate Affymetrix whole genome microarrays.

This data set can be used as a reference set for comparisons with the other data sets.

These data have been published in Wang X, Bo J, Bridges T, Dugan KD, Pan T-C, Chodosh L, Montell DJ. Analysis of cell migration using whole genome expression profiling of migratory cells in the Drosophila ovary. Dev Cell 2006; 10 (4):483-95 PubMed

Rørth and colleagues have also shed light on how border cells switch from a stationary to a migratory behavior in their publication, Borghese L, Fletcher G, Mathieu J, Atzberger A, Eades WC, Cagan RL, Rørth P. Systematic analysis of the transcriptional switch inducing migration of border cells Dev. Cell Dev Cell 2006; 10 (4):497-508 PubMed. The array data from this publication can also be viewed at Array Express. Please enter experiment accession number E-MEXP-493.