So far, analysis is incomplete, but the group expects on-going experiments to allow them to develop the molecular and genetic tools to clarify the role of Tropomyosin and other cytoskeletal components in RNA localisation. If one could fluorescently label specific RNAs and inject them into a living oocyte, it might be possible to watch the transport process in real time. But such an experiment could not be carried out just anywhere. Fortunately, EMBL is one of a few laboratories with the necessary technology and expertise in both microinjection and video microscopy. Even at EMBL, however, such an experiment involved high risk of failure.
Oocytes are small, fragile and difficult to culture.
That person was postdoctoral fellow Jola Bogucka Glotzer. The collaborative environment at EMBL played an important part in the research that followed. Glotzer worked with Rainer Saffrich in EMBL's Biochemical Instrumentation Programme to adapt a microinjection system, previously developed at EMBL, to inject Drosophila oocytes. They also designed a method, using a digital imaging system, to follow the transport of labelled oskar RNA within the oocyte. These new protocols promised fast turn over of information and tight control of the experimental environment.