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Developmental patterning deciphered in avian chimeras
Author(s) -
Le Douarin Nicole M.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1111/j.1440-169x.2008.00989.x
Subject(s) - quail , coturnix coturnix , biology , in ovo , coturnix japonica , hatching , chimera (genetics) , coturnix , embryo , developmental biology , zoology , embryonic stem cell , evolutionary biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , ecology , gene
I started my scientific carer by investigating the development of the digestive tract in the laboratory of a well‐known embryologist, Etienne Wolff, then professor at the Collège de France. My animal model was the chick embryo. The investigations that I pursued on liver development together with serendipity, led me to devise a cell‐marking technique based on the construction of chimeric embryos between two closely related species of birds, the Japanese quail ( Coturnix coturnix japonica ) and the chick ( Gallus gallus ). The possibility to follow the migration and fate of the cells throughout development from early embryonic stages up to hatching and even after birth, was a breakthrough in developmental biology of higher vertebrates. This article describes some of scientific achievements based on the use of this technique in my laboratory during the last 38 years.