Abstract
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is crucial for degrading acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses. In vitro studies suggest that, in addition to its role in nervous signaling, AChE can also modulate non-neuronal cell properties, although it remains controversial whether AChE functions in this capacity in vivo. Here, we show that AChE plays an essential non-classical role in vertebrate gut morphogenesis. Exposure of Xenopus embryos to AChE-inhibiting chemicals results in severe defects in intestinal development. Tissue-targeted loss of function assays (via microinjection of antisense morpholino or CRISPR-Cas9) confirm that AChE is specifically required in the gut endoderm tissue, a non-neuronal cell population, where it mediates adhesion to fibronectin and regulates cell rearrangement events that drive gut lengthening and digestive epithelial morphogenesis. Notably, the classical esterase activity of AChE is dispensable for this activity. As AChE is deeply conserved, widely expressed outside of the nervous system, and the target of many environmental chemicals, these results have broad-reaching implications for development and toxicology.
- Received January 27, 2017.
- Accepted June 19, 2017.
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 1 day for US$30.00 .
Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.
Article navigation
Related articles
Cited by...
More in this TOC section
Similar articles
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Spotlight – An interview with George Daley
“It really is a core responsibility of scientists … to be willing to speak out on behalf of their science”
George Daley, who was awarded the ISSCR 2017 Public Service Award, talks about his career investigating the biology and clinical application of stem cells, the importance of ethical guidelines and of science advocacy.
Meeting report – EMBO/EMBL Symposium ‘Metabolism in Time and Space’
The 2017 EMBO/EMBL Symposium ‘Metabolism in Time and Space’ was held at EMBL Heidelberg, Germany, in May 2017. Alena Krejci and Jason M. Tennessen review this interdisciplinary meeting that provided a valuable forum to explore the interface between developmental biology and metabolism.
Primer – The enigma of embryonic diapause
Marilyn B. Renfre and Jane C. Fenelon discuss the complex embryo-uterine interactions that induce, maintain and reactivate the blastocyst from diapause, highlighting the roles of hormones, cytokines and growth factors across animal species.
New on the Node – Embryosafari: illustrating development
Image: Kalin Narov/Embryosafari
Developmental biologist and digital artist Kalin Narov shares his journey from childhood modelling clay sculptures of sci-fi characters to his beautiful illustrations of organogenesis.
Articles of interest in our sister journals
A GEF activity-independent function for nuclear Net1 in Nodal signal transduction and mesendoderm formation. J. Cell Sci. 2017 130: 3072-3082.
In this Research article published in Journal of Cell Science, Qiang Wang and colleagues show that Net1 associates with Smad2 in the nucleus in a GEF-independent manner and facilitates Smad2 transcriptional activity to guide mesendoderm development in zebrafish.