In insects, there are two different ovarian types: panoistic and meroistic, depending of the structure of the ovary and the type of cells that form the ovarian follicle. The panoistic ovaries are the most basal model, and in them the ovarian follicle is formed exclusively by one germinal cell (the oocyte) surrounded by a monolayer of follicular cells.

Scientists at IBE have now studied the EGFR signalling pathway in the panoistic ovary of Blattella germanica cockroaches. They demonstrated that EGFR interacts with Notch and Hippo pathway to control cell proliferation in the panoistic ovary, and that EGFR plays a key role in maintain the correct proportion between germinal and somatic cells.

Reference Article: Elshaer, N., and Piulachs, M.-D. (2015) Crosstalk of EGFR signalling with Notch and Hippo pathways to regulate cell specification, migration and proliferation in cockroach panoistic ovaries. Biology of the Cell