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. 2022 Jan 13;11:e61389. doi: 10.7554/eLife.61389

Figure 1. The p53B protein isoform is expressed in the germline where it colocalizes with p53A in nuclear bodies.

(A) Drosophila p53 mRNA and protein isoforms. Left: The four p53 mRNA isoforms with introns as lines, translated regions of exons as orange boxes, and 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions as black boxes. Right: The p53 protein isoforms encoded by those four mRNA isoforms. Numbers indicate amino acid coordinates of transactivation domain (TAD) (green), DNA-binding domain (black) and oligomerization domain (white). p53A and p53C mRNAs encode the same protein. (B) Drosophila oogenesis: One ovariole with germarium at anterior (left) and egg chambers migrating posteriorly (to right) as they mature. Arrows indicate germline nurse cells and oocyte and epithelium of somatic follicle cells (pink) in one egg. (C-D’) Immunofluorescent detection of GFP-p53A (C, C’) or mCh-p53B (D, D’) expression in stage seven egg chambers, with DNA counterstained with DAPI (blue). Follicle cells (red arrow), nurse cells (white arrow), oocyte (blue arrow). Scale bar 10 μm (E-E”) Colocalization of GFP-p53A and mCh-p53B in subnuclear foci of nurse cells. Scale bars 5μm. (F) Quantification of GFP-p53A and mCh-p53B fluorescence along the 6 μm line shown in E”. (G-G”) Colocalization of GFP-p53A and mCh-p53B in subnuclear foci of an oocyte. Scale bars 1 μm. (H) Quantification of GFP-p53A and mCh-p53B fluorescence along the 6 μm line shown in G”.

Figure 1.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1. Rare mCh-p53B expression in somatic follicle cells.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1.

(A, B) mCh-p53B in nuclear bodies in a small group of follicle cells in a mCh-p53B female (A), and colocalization with GFP-p53A in follicle cells in a mCh-p53B / GFP-p53A female (B). White arrows indicate two examples of DAPI-bright pericentric heterochromatin, near which p53 bodies are often located. (C) Quantification of GFP-p53A and mCh-p53B labeling in one nuclear body in (B) (dotted yellow arrow), measured along a 6 μm line (inset). Scale bar is 10 μm.

Figure 1—figure supplement 2. p53A and p53B are expressed in the male germline.

Figure 1—figure supplement 2.

A testis expressing GFP-p53A (A, A’) or mCh-p53B (B, B’), with labeling with anti-Hts (germline fusomes) and DAPI (blue) shown in A’, B’. Scale bar is 20 μm.