How do egg cells balloon to great sizes?

The mechanism of egg cell development in fruit flies, which allows the cells to grow to a large size, mirrors a physical phenomenon observed in connected balloons of different sizes. A recent interdepartmental collaboration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA, USA) has exposed the mechanism by which fruit fly (Drosophila) egg cells develop to such staggering sizes. The senior authors Jörn Dunkel, an Associate Professor of physical applied mathematics and Adam Martin, Associate Professor of biology, determined that oocytes are fed by nurse cells in a two-step process involving surface tension and myosin until they form a mature egg cell....