Germline transcription gets the message Available to Purchase

Although the transcription of new genes drives many processes during development, it is generally accepted that the late stages of both male and female germline development in Drosophila occur in the absence of transcription. Now, two papers in this issue of Development provide important new insights into how the gene expression necessary to drive spermiogenesis and oogenesis in Drosophila is controlled. On p. 1897, Barreau et al. reveal that, although the mRNAs for most of the proteins involved in late spermiogenesis are transcribed before the spermatocytes undergo meiotic division to form spermatids, some genes are transcribed post-meiotically. The researchers identify 24 genes whose mRNAs are most abundant in elongating spermatids, and use quantitative RT-PCR to show that these genes are transcribed post-meiotically, just before histone-to-protamine chromatin remodelling occurs. They show that these post-meiotically transcribed mRNAs are localized to the distal elongating end of the spermatid bundles and report that...