A revised fate map for amphioxus and the evolution of axial patterning in chordates

The chordates include vertebrates plus two groups of invertebrates (the cephalochordates and tunicates). Previous embryonic fate maps of the cephalochordate amphioxus (Branchiostoma) were influenced by preconceptions that early development in amphioxus and ascidian tunicates should be fundamentally the same and that the early amphioxus embryo, like that of amphibians, should have ventral mesoderm. Although detailed cell lineage tracing in amphioxus has not been done because of limited availability of the embryos and because cleavage is radial and holoblastic with the blastomeres nearly equal in size and not tightly adherent until the mid-blastula stage, a compilation of data from gene expression and function, blastomere isolation and dye labeling allows a more realistic fate map to be drawn. The revised fate map is substantially different from that of ascidians. It shows (1) that the anterior pole of the amphioxus embryo is offset dorsally from the animal pole only by about 20°, (2) that the ectoderm/mesendoderm boundary (the future rim of the blastopore) is at the equator of the blastula, which approximately coincides with the 3rd cleavage plane, and (3) that there is no ventral mesoderm during the gastrula stage. Involution or ingression of cells over the blastopore lip is negligible, and the blastopore, which is posterior, closes centripetally as if by a purse string. During the gastrula stage, the animal pole shifts ventrally, coming to lie about 20° ventral to the anterior tip of the late gastrula/early neurula. Comparisons of the embryos of amphioxus and vertebrates indicate that in spite of large differences in the mechanics of cleavage and gastrulation, anterior/posterior and dorsal/ventral patterning occur by homologous genetic mechanisms. Therefore, the small, nonyolky embryo of amphioxus is probably a reasonable approximation of the basal chordate embryo before the evolution of determinate cleavage in the tunicates and the evolution large amounts of yolk in basal vertebrates.