Studies on the Cytoplasmic Organization of Early Drosophila Embryos

Abstract

We are attempting to use the early, single-cell Drosophila embryo as a model system to study two central biological problems. The first relates to the high degree of organization found in the intracellular compartment termed the cytosol (defined as the cytoplasm outside of membrane-bounded organelles). Cells apparently have the ability to position specific soluble proteins in defined locations, so that (for example) the cytosol that surrounds the Golgi apparatus and the cytosol located just beneath the plasma membrane contain different mixtures of proteins. What is the biochemical basis for this positioning? Although the cell cytoskeleton is almost certainly involved, our rudimentary knowledge of its structure and function is insufficient to explain the amount of cytoplasmic order that is observed.