Genetics, Vol. 168, 191-198, September 2004, Copyright © 2004
doi:10.1534/genetics.104.029918

stall-Mediated Extrinsic Control of Ovarian Follicle Formation in Drosophila

Stacey S. Willard1, Emily F. Ozdowski1, Natasha A. Jones and Claire Cronmiller2

Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4328

2 Corresponding author: Department of Biology, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400328, Gilmer Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4328.
E-mail: crc2s{at}virginia.edu

Complex patterns of morphogenesis require intricate coordination of multiple, regulatory processes that control cellular identities, shapes, and behaviors, both locally and over vast distances in the developing organism or tissue. Studying Drosophila oogenesis as a model for tissue morphogenesis, we have discovered extraovarian regulation of follicle formation. Clonal analysis and ovary transplantation have demonstrated that long-range control of follicle individualization requires stall gene function in cells outside of the ovary. Although tissue nonautonomous regulation has been shown to govern follicle maturation and survival, this is the first report of an extraovarian pathway involved in normal follicle formation.