Redundant nutritive tubes in insect ovarioles: the fate of an extensive microtubule transport system.

The developing oocytes in the ovarioles of hemipteran insects receive materials from nutritive cells by way of channels known as nutritive tubes. The tubes contain an extensive system of microtubules which are thought to be involved in the transport between the two cell types. At the onset of vitellogenesis the connection is discontinued. Redundant nutritive tubes have been identified, compared with functional tubes, and their fate discussed.