Laura Nilson
Developmental genetics in Drosophila melanogaster. Identification and analysis of genes required in the somatic follicle cells of the ovary for patterning of the future embryo. Genetic and molecular analysis of organization and morphogenesis of the ovarian follicular epithelium.
Developmental biology seeks to understand how a single cell, the fertilized egg, can give rise to all the complexity of form and function observed in a multicellular organism. One way to address this extraordinarily complicated question is to approach one early and fundamental aspect: in the earliest stages of development, how is head distinguished from tail, and back from front? What are the positional cues that specify the initial asymmetry along these body axes, and how are the structures the structures in between elaborated?
In many organisms, the first indications of these body axes are already visible at the single cell stage. In some cases asymmetry is triggered by fertilization, when sperm entry provides a cue that defines one end of a future axis. In other cases, the unfertilized egg itself contains molecular information, deposited by the mother during oogenesis, that will ultimately specify the poles of the head-tail, or “anterior-posterior,” and back-front, or “dorsal-ventral,” axes. Since we can trace the origin of these basic body axes back to asymmetries at the single cell stage, addressing larger questions about embryonic development begins with an understanding of the mechanisms that generate asymmetry in the egg. As described below, in these issues we can recognize fundamental themes in developmental biology, such as how an inductive signal can trigger cell fate changes or how molecules can adopt specific subcellular localization patterns.
Why the fly?
Generation of asymmetry during Drosophila oogenesis
Polarity along the DV axis
Research Overview
Fregoso Lomas, M.*, De Vito, S.*, Boisclair Lachance, J.-F., Houde, J. and Nilson, L.A. (2016) Determination of EGFR signaling output by opposing gradients of BMP and JAK/STAT activity. Current Biology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.073
Feingold, D., Starc, T., O’Donnell, M.J., Nilson, L.A. and Dent, J.A. (2016) The orphan pentameric ligand-gated ion channel pHCl-2 is gated by pH and regulates fluid secretion in Drosophila Malpighian tubules. Journal of Experimental Biology, 219, 2629-2638
Fregoso Lomas, M., Hails, F., Boisclair Lachance, J.-F. and Nilson, L.A. (2013) Response to the dorsal anterior gradient of EGFR signaling in Drosophila oogenesis is prepatterned by earlier posterior EGFR activation. Cell Reports 4, 791-802.
Laplante, C. and Nilson , L.A. (2011) Asymmetric distribution of Echinoid defines the epidermal leading edge during Drosophila dorsal closure. Journal of Cell Biology, 192, 335-348. [Featured as the “In Focus” summary article for Journal of Cell Biology - Jan. 2011]
Laplante, C., Paul, S.M., Beitel, G., and Nilson, L.A. (2010) Echinoid regulates tracheal morphology and fusion cell fate in Drosophila. Developmental Dynamics 239, 2509-2519. [Featured in "Highlights in Developmental Dynamics" - Feb. 2011]
Boisclair Lachance, J.-F., Fregoso Lomas, M., Eleiche, A., Bouchard Kerr, P. and Nilson, L.A. (2009) Graded Egfr activity patterns the Drosphila eggshell independently of autocrine feedback. Development 136, 2893-2902.
Cáceres, L. and Nilson, L.A. (2009) Translational repression of gurken in the Drosophila oocyte requires the hnRNP Squid in the nurse cells. Developmental Biology 326, 327-334.
Laplante, C. and Nilson, L.A. (2006) Differential expression of the adhesion molecule Echinoid drives epithelial morphogenesis in Drosophila. Development 133, 3255-64.
Pai, L.-M., Wang, P.-Y., Chen, S.-R., Barcelo, G., Chang, W.-L., Nilson, L.A. and Schüpbach, T. (2006) The Drosophila cbl gene downregulates Egfr signaling by two distinct mechanisms. Mechanisms of Development 123, 450-462.
Rounding Atkey, M.R., Boisclair Lachance, J.-F., Walczak, M., Rebello, T. and Nilson, L.A.(2006) Capicua regulates follicle cell fate in the Drosophila ovary through repression of mirror. Development, 133, 2115-2123.
Cáceres L., Nilson L.A. (2005) Production of gurken in the nurse cells is sufficient for axis determination in the Drosophila oocyte. Development 132: 2345-2353.
Goff, D.J., Nilson, L.A. and Morisato, D. (2001) Establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity of the Drosophila egg requires capicua action in ovarian follicle cells. Development 128, 4553-4562.
Nilson, L.A., and Schüpbach, T. (1999). EGF receptor signaling in Drosophila oogenesis. Curr. Topics in Dev. Biol. 44, 203-244.
Nilson, L.A., and Schüpbach, T. (1998). Localized requirements for windbeutel and pipe reveal a dorsoventral prepattern within the follicular epithelium of the Drosophila ovary. Cell 93, 253-262.