spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif ARCHIVE ANNOUNCEMENT! spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 14 March 2007
doi: 10.1242/dev.02825

Development 134, 1509-1518 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
dev.02825v1
134/8/1509    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in Development
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kim, G. J.
Right arrow Articles by Nishida, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kim, G. J.
Right arrow Articles by Nishida, H.

Cell fate polarization in ascidian mesenchyme/muscle precursors by directed FGF signaling and role for an additional ectodermal FGF antagonizing signal in notochord/nerve cord precursors

Gil Jung Kim1,*, Gaku Kumano2 and Hiroki Nishida2

1 Faculty of Marine Bioscience and Technology, Kangnung National University, Gangneung Daehangno, Gangneung 210-702, Republic of Korea.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University, Toyonaka, Osaka 560-0043, Japan.

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: gjkim{at}kangnung.ac.kr)

Accepted 31 January 2007

Asymmetric cell division plays a fundamental role in generating various types of embryonic cell. In ascidian embryos, asymmetric cell divisions occur in the vegetal hemisphere in a manner similar to those found in Caenorhabditis elegans. Early divisions in embryos of both species involve inductive events on a single mother cell that result in production of daughters with different cell fates. Here we show in the ascidian Halocynthia roretzi that polarity of muscle/mesenchyme mother precursors is determined solely by the direction from which the FGF9/16/20 signal is presented, a role similar to that of Wnt signaling in the EMS and T cell divisions in C. elegans. However, polarity of nerve cord/notochord mother precursors is determined by possible antagonistic action between the FGF signal and a signal from anterior ectoderm, providing a new mechanism underlying asymmetric cell division. The ectoderm signal suppresses MAPK activation and expression of Hr-FoxA, which encodes an intrinsic competence factor for notochord induction, in the nerve cord lineage.

Key words: Ascidian embryo, Mesenchyme, Notochord, Embryonic induction, Asymmetric cell division, FGF, FoxA


Related articles in Development:

Asymmetric cell division: fateful FGF antagonism

Development 2007 134: e802. [Full Text]  





© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2007