A novel pattern of germ cell divisions in the production of hymenopteran insect eggs

Egg development is a defining process of reproduction in higher eukaryotes. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster , this process begins with four mitotic divisions starting from a single germ cell, producing a cyst of 16 cystocytes; one of these cells will become the oocyte and the others supporting nurse cells. These mitotic divisions are exceptional because cytokinesis is incomplete, resulting in the formation of cytoplasmic bridges known...