Fig. 3: Drosophila microbes enhance the progression of oogenesis by acceleration of ovarian cell division.

a Representative images of heat shock-induced LacZ-positive germline cell clones (upper panels) and follicle cell clones (lower panels) that are continuously derived from stem cells. Ovarioles were stained with anti-LacZ antibody (green, arrow heads) and DAPI (blue). b The profiles of the most developed stages of egg chambers containing LacZ-positive germline and follicle cell clones in the ovarioles. LacZ-positive cells were counted either at 2 or 3 days after heat shock, and the percentage of the most advanced stages of LacZ-positive cells in the ovarioles were plotted for M+ (blue) or M- (gray) conditions. Dotted line indicates 25% of y-axis. The number of egg chambers examined is shown in the graph. c Representative images of stage 10 egg chambers containing LacZ-positive follicle clones (arrow heads) in M+ or M- conditions at 3 days after heat shock. Ovaries were stained for LacZ (green), α-Spec (red) and DAPI (blue). d The number of cell division rounds undergone by follicle cells was measured by counting LacZ-positive follicle cells in a clone at stage 10, 2–4 days after heat shock under M+ or M- conditions. The number of cell division rounds in yeast-fed conditions was calculated based on ref. ²⁰; (n = 5-10 for each point). e The number of stage 13/14 eggs per ovary from females cultured in M+ or M− vials at 2, 3, or 4 days after heat shock. For statistical analysis, a Wilcoxon rank sum test is used. ****P ≤ 0.001, n.s., nonsignificant (P > 0.05). Data are represented as mean ± standard deviation. Scale bar = 50 μm in (a, c).