Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Genet. 2017 Sep 22;33(12):971–978. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2017.09.001

Figure 1. Nursing mechanism through germ cell connectivity in meroistic ovaries.

Figure 1

In meroistic ovaries, where only a subset of germ cells within the cyst are chosen to become an oocyte, sister germ cells (nurse cells) donate their cytoplasm to the oocyte through ring canals. Shown is the example of the Drosophila female germline cyst, where 16 interconnected cells develop into one oocyte and 15 nurse cells. The fusome is a germline specific membranous organelle that runs through ring canal and disassembles before cytoplasmic transport begins.