By design or by chance: cell death during Drosophila embryogenesis

Programmed cell death during Drosophila embryogenesis.

The deliberate and orderly removal of cells by programmed cell death is a common phenomenon during the development of metazoan animals. We have examined the distribution and ultrastructural appearance of cell deaths that occur during embryogenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. A large number of cells die during embryonic development in Drosophila. These cells display ultrastructural features that...

Autophagic cell death during Drosophila embryogenesis

Specific muscle identities are regulated by Krüppel during Drosophila embryogenesis.

During Drosophila embryogenesis, mesodermal cells are recruited to form a complex pattern of larval muscles. The formation of the pattern is initiated by the segregation of a special class of founder myoblasts. Single founders fuse with neighbouring nonfounder myoblasts to form the precursors of individual muscles. Founders and the muscles that they give rise to have specific patterns of gene e...

First Things - Chance, by Design

The question of how to reconcile chance with divine providence long predated Darwin. People didn’t need science to tell them that chance had something to do with their being here. Each of us is the product of a long and tenuous chain of improbable events. We wouldn’t have been born if our parents hadn’t happened to meet or if some ancestor hadn’t escaped disaster by a hair’s breadth. Nor is the...

Fascin is required for blood cell migration during Drosophila embryogenesis.

Fascin is well characterized in vitro as an actin-bundling protein and its increased expression is correlated with the invasiveness of various cancers. However, the actual roles and regulation of Fascin in vivo remain elusive. Here we show that Fascin is required for the invasive-like migration of blood cells in Drosophila embryos. Fascin expression is highly regulated during embryonic developm...