Premium
Phosphorylation‐dependent regulation of skeletogenesis in sea urchin micromere‐derived cells and embryos
Author(s) -
Cervello Melchiorre,
Sanfilippo Rosalia,
Isola Gabriella,
Virruso Lucrezia,
Scalia Giuliana,
Cammarata Giuseppe,
Gambino Roberto
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
development, growth and differentiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.864
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1440-169X
pISSN - 0012-1592
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-169x.1999.00479.x
Subject(s) - phosphorylation , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , sea urchin , tyrosine phosphorylation , kinase , embryo , developmental biology , dephosphorylation , sponge spicule , phosphatase , anatomy
Sea urchin embryo micromeres when isolated and cultured in vitro differentiate to produce spicules. Although several authors have used this model, almost nothing is known about the signalling pathways responsible for initiating skeletogenesis. In order to investigate the potential involvement of phosphorylation events in spiculogenesis, the effect of inhibitors of protein kinases and phosphatases on skeleton formation was studied. Results obtained using both cultured micromeres and embryos revealed that protein tyrosine kinase and phosphatase inhibitors blocked skeleton formation, but not serine/threonine phosphatase inhibitors. The inhibitors showed a dose‐dependent effect and when removed from micromere or embryo culture, spicule formation resumed. Inhibition of tyrosine phosphatases resulted in an increase in the tyrosine phosphorylation level of two major proteins and a modest decrease in the expression of the mRNA coding for type I fibrillar collagen. These findings strongly suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation and dephosphorylation is required for micromere differentiation and for normal skeletogenesis during sea urchin embryo development.