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New empirical cell motion data from avian gastrulae reveal striking exceptions to “classical” concepts of gastrulation
Author(s) -
Cui Cheng,
Rongish Brenda,
Lansford Rusty,
Little Charles
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a869-c
Subject(s) - epiblast , gastrulation , germ layer , endoderm , primitive streak , mesoderm , ectoderm , microbiology and biotechnology , nodal , blastoderm , biology , ingression , anatomy , lateral plate mesoderm , embryo , embryogenesis , embryonic stem cell , genetics , gene , induced pluripotent stem cell
An electroporation technique was recently perfected by which cells in any germ layer of a gastrulating avian embryo can be labeled with GFP (HH Stages 1–10). Combining this novel cell labeling technique with time‐lapse computational imaging, we tracked the motion of cells that originated from the epiblast germ layer and discovered two interesting phenomena. First, we found that substantial numbers of labeled epiblast cells ingressed through the streak and populated the contralateral side of the embryo (HH stages 4 to 7). In some cases more than 40% of GFP‐labeled cells crossed the midline axis during ingression. This observation has important consequences for understanding left‐right asymmetry in early vertebrate embryos. Second, by labeling epiblast cells at HH stage 1 and monitoring their motion, we observed that some epiblast cells became mesodermal cells without ingressing through the streak. By peeling back the endoderm in the region between the area opaca and area pellucida (where epiblast cells were initially labeled with GFP), we found that most labeled cells were positioned in the mesoderm while others were associated with the ectoderm and endoderm. These empirical data establish that some epiblast cells can populate the mesoderm without gastrulating, a finding that potentially alters our concept of early vertebrate morphogenesis. Source of Support: KUMC Biomedical Research Training Program (CC), NIH R01 HL73700 (BJR), NIH R01 HL68855 (CDL) .