A putative stem-loop structure in Drosophila crumbs is required for mRNA localisation in epithelia and germline cells

Subcellular spatial transcriptomics identifies three mechanistically different classes of localizing RNAs

Intracellular RNA localization is a widespread and dynamic phenomenon that compartmentalizes gene expression and contributes to the functional polarization of cells. Thus far, mechanisms of RNA localization identified in Drosophila have been based on a few RNAs in different tissues, and a comprehensive mechanistic analysis of RNA localization in a single tissue is lacking. Here, by subcellular spatial transcriptomics we identify RNAs localized in the apical and basal domains of the columnar follicular epithelium (FE) and we analyze the mechanisms mediating their localization. Whereas the dynein/BicD/Egl machinery controls apical RNA localization, basally-targeted RNAs require kinesin-1 to overcome a default dynein-mediated transport. Moreover, a non-canonical, translation- and dynein-dependent mechanism mediates apical localization of a subgroup of dynein-activating adaptor-encoding RNAs (BicD, Bsg25D, hook). Altogether, our study identifies at least three mechanisms underlying RNA localization in the FE, and suggests a possible link between RNA localization and dynein/dynactin/adaptor complex formation in vivo.

First person – Srija Bhagavatula

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Srija Bhagavatula is first author on ‘A putative stem-loop structure in Drosophila crumbs is required for mRNA localisation in epithelia and germline cells’, published in JCS. Srija is a post-doc in the lab of Dr Elisabeth Knust at Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany, investigating the significance of mRNA localization in epithelia.