spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online April 10, 2009
doi: 10.1242/10.1242/dev.034793

Development 136, 1549-1557 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
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 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 HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Roussigné, M.
Right arrow Articles by Blader, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Roussigné, M.
Right arrow Articles by Blader, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Nodal signalling imposes left-right asymmetry upon neurogenesis in the habenular nuclei

Myriam Roussigné1,2, Isaac H. Bianco2, Stephen W. Wilson2,* and Patrick Blader1,*

1 Université de Toulouse, UPS, Centre de Biologie du Développement (CBD), 118 route de Narbonne, F-31062 Toulouse, France.
2 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

* Authors for correspondence (e-mails: s.wilson{at}ucl.ac.uk; blader{at}cict.fr)

Accepted 27 February 2009

The habenulae are evolutionarily conserved bilateral nuclei in the epithalamus that relay input from the forebrain to the ventral midbrain. In zebrafish, the habenulae display left-right (L/R) asymmetries in gene expression and axonal projections. The elaboration of habenular asymmetries requires the presence of a second asymmetric structure, the parapineal, the laterality of which is biased by unilateral Nodal signalling. Here we show that neurons are present earlier in the left habenula than in the right, but, in contrast to other habenular asymmetry phenotypes, this asymmetry in neurogenesis is not dependent on the parapineal. Embryos in which the L/R asymmetry in Nodal signalling is abolished display symmetric neurogenesis, revealing a requirement for this pathway in asymmetrically biasing neurogenesis. Our results provide evidence of a direct requirement for unilateral Nodal activity in establishing an asymmetry per se, rather than solely in biasing its laterality.

Key words: Nodal signalling, Asymmetry, Habenular nuclei, Neurogenesis, Zebrafish


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

Nodal fishes out brain asymmetries

Development 2009 136: e905. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurosci.Home page
L. A. Quina, S. Wang, L. Ng, and E. E. Turner
Brn3a and Nurr1 Mediate a Gene Regulatory Pathway for Habenula Development
J. Neurosci., November 11, 2009; 29(45): 14309 - 14322.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol.Home page
A. F. Schier
Nodal Morphogens
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol, November 1, 2009; 1(5): a003459 - a003459.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2009