Encore is a member of a novel family of proteins and affects multiple processes in Drosophila oogenesis

Mutations in the encore (enc) gene of Drosophila melanogaster cause one extra round of mitosis in the germline, resulting in the formation of egg chambers with extra nurse cells. In addition, enc mutations affect the accumulation of Gurken protein within the oocyte, leading to the production of ventralized eggs. Here we show that enc mutants also exhibit abnormalities in karyosome morphology, similar to other ventralizing mutants such as okra and spindle B. Unlike these mutants, however, the defects in Gurken accumulation and karyosome formation do not result from activation of a meiotic checkpoint. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the requirement for enc in these processes is temporally distinct from its role in germline mitosis. Cloning of the enc locus and generation of anti-Enc antibodies reveal that enc encodes a large novel protein that accumulates within the oocyte cytoplasm and colocalizes with grk mRNA. We argue that the enc mutant phenotypes reflect a role for Enc in the regulation of several RNA targets.