Image of the Day: Organ Crosstalk
Image of the Day: Organ Crosstalk
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Image of the Day: Organ Crosstalk

Zooming in on the ovarioles of Drosophila could reveal links between muscles, nutrition, and the development of eggs.

Carolyn Wilke
Mar 19, 2019

ABOVE: ALISSA ARMSTRONG

Researchers are probing how different organs communicate about nutritional input. To get a sense of how nutrient sensing in adipose tissue plays into the production of eggs in the ovary, a research group from the University of South Carolina is homing in on the ovarioles, egg-producing units, of Drosophila. The ovariole nuclei stand out in blue, while actin (in red) reveals the ovarian muscle. The group is studying how these muscles respond to changes in nutrient sensing in the flies’ fat body and, in turn, how this affects oocytes when they mature.