Dynamics of the control of body pattern in the development of Xenopus laevis

Development ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-112
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cooke ◽  
John A. Webber

Xenopus embryos have been selected in which the second cleavage is occuring in a frontal plane, i.e one tending to lie at right angles to the prospective plane of bilateral symmetry for the body pattern. Some of these have been used to deduce a map of the disposition of materials for the normal mesodermal pattern (the normal ‘fate map’) by injecting blastomeres to found fluorescently marked clones from 4- to 32-cell stages. Other such 4-cell embryos have been separated into two isolates across this second cleavage; in fate-map terms, prospective dorsoanterior and posterior isolates. These have been allowed to develop to control axial larval stages, with examination of the time schedule of their gastrulation movements in relation to cofertilized whole controls. The patterns of mesoderm produced have been examined and interpreted in the light of quantitative knowledge about the normal pattern, and our current understanding of the map. A meaningful fate map exists for the egg material even at this early, essentially acellular stage, and it differs appreciably from what might have been expected in view of that traditionally shown for early gastrula stages. The patterns developed in the isolates show that at least in many eggs, widespread information that positively specifies material as to its body position is available from at most 1 h after the events that give rise to bilateral symmetry upon fertilization. This information usually leads to a mosaic development of the appropriate mesodermal part-pattern in dorsoanterior isolates, and frequently allows development that approximates to this in the reciprocal posterior part. Regulation, i.e. the replacement of removed information to specify a development more complete than the normal contribution in isolates, is not observed. The results suggest a revision of former claims for regulative ability in at least this amphibian embryo. They also imply that systems for ascribing position value (positional information) to early embryonic tissue can be diverse in dynamics, even among embryos whose body plans are obviously homologous as are those of vertebrates.

Development ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 89 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 69-87
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cooke

Evidence is presented that the system setting up preliminary specifications for contributions to the axial body plan, across vegetal regions of the Xenopus embryo, acts in a widespread way at early stages. Mechanisms that regulate the spatial profile of this primary positional variable, and thus ensure the constancy and harmony of the body plans normally achieved, have lost this integrative ability by the 4-cell stage one hour after the plasm shifts that precede first cleavage and symmetrize the egg. Abnormal, partial or distorted profiles of the positional system across whole eggs or isolates, recorded by these times, are retained to give correspondingly partial or imbalanced mes/endodermal pattern at tailbud larval stages. There is evidence that subsequent ‘back-up’ positional interactions, which can heal gross positional discontinuities in isolated presumptive lateral half-eggs and so restore bilateral symmetry, also do this at the price of loss of complete pattern specification. This is probably because of an asymmetrical principle whereby relatively activated (dorsoanterior specified) material can raise the level of originally posterior material on contact, whereas the reverse interaction cannot occur. The observations are discussed in relation to apparently different behaviour in certain other amphibian embryos, and to our knowledge of other positional interactions, normal and also experimentally provoked, such as those that set up the germ layers.


Development ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Cooke ◽  
E.J. Smith

We have carried out an anatomical study of Xenopus larval and gastrula stages resulting from treatment of synchronous early blastulae for brief periods with Li+. We confirm the proposal that such treatment causes a particular transformation, and partial elimination, of the normal body pattern. Coordinated restriction of pattern, without appreciable loss of cell number, is seen in all three germ layers. The distortion has been investigated by quantitative study of mesoderms at a standard stage, in relation to the normal fate map for mesoderm, and with the help of immunofluorescence on sections for somitic muscle and for blood. In the extreme syndrome, mesoderm arises from all around the blastula as usual, but is symmetrical and corresponds to that arising near the dorsal/anterior meridian of the normally specified egg or embryo with a large posterior subset of the normal pattern values thus missing. The effect is independent of any inhibition of archenteron formation or mesoderm migration (i.e. the cell mechanics of gastrulation) incurred by the treatment. It is also quite separate from a syndrome caused by more prolonged exposure to Li+ during gastrulation. A small, but distinctive, anterior pattern region is also not expressed and, anomalously in relation to their general nature, these forms differentiate considerable blood tissue. We consider the implications of some details of the pattern restriction for our understanding of interaction in the normal development and propose that the Li+ embryo is likely to be useful as a specific ‘differential screen’, in relation to the normal, during the search for those gene products that mediate initial regionalization of the body.


Development ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Estrada ◽  
E. Sanchez-Herrero

In Drosophila, the Hox gene Abdominal-B is required to specify the posterior abdomen and the genitalia. Homologues of Abdominal-B in other species are also needed to determine the posterior part of the body. We have studied the function of Abdominal-B in the formation of Drosophila genitalia, and show here that absence of Abdominal-B in the genital disc of Drosophila transforms male and female genitalia into leg or, less frequently, into antenna. These transformations are accompanied by the ectopic expression of genes such as Distal-less or dachshund, which are normally required in these appendages. The extent of wild-type and ectopic Distal-less expression depends on the antagonistic activities of the Abdominal-B gene, as a repressor, and of the decapentaplegic and wingless genes as activators. Absence of Abdominal-B also changes the expression of Homothorax, a Hox gene co-factor. Our results suggest that Abdominal-B forms genitalia by modifying an underlying positional information and repressing appendage development. We propose that the genital primordia should be subdivided into two regions, one of them competent to be transformed into an appendage in the absence of Abdominal-B.


Parasite ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Jirsová ◽  
Xuejuan Ding ◽  
Kristína Civáňová ◽  
Eliška Jirounková ◽  
Jana Ilgová ◽  
...  

Paradiplozoon hemiculteri (Ling, 1973), a member of the Diplozoidae, parasitizes the gills of Asian fish. Not only is the type material unavailable for this species, the original description was poor and somewhat conflicting, and adequate molecular data were not available. What is more, the available morphological and molecular data are inconsistent and fluctuate significantly. Here, we present a redescription of P. hemiculteri based on morphological and molecular data from new isolates collected from the type host, the sharpbelly Hemiculter leucisculus (Basilewsky, 1855), captured at the neotype locality (Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, southern China); a neotype for P. hemiculteri was designated from this collection. The length and width of the body, buccal suckers, pharynx, attachment clamps, sickle and the central hook handle were all measured and the shape of the anterior and posterior part of the median plate and anterior and posterior joining sclerites accurately documented. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequences of the second rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) indicated that all new samples clustered together and differed clearly from sequences attributed to P. hemiculteri, which are deposited in GenBank. Our results confirm that P. hemiculteri is the only diplozoid that has demonstrably been found on the gills of H. leucisculus to date.


Author(s):  
Fernanda Mottin Refinetti ◽  
Ricardo Drews ◽  
Umberto Cesar Corrêa ◽  
Flavio Henrique Bastos

Crustaceana ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 86 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 1695-1710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Allen ◽  
A. G. Lewis

Locomotor appendage-body relationships were used to examine whether swimming or reduction in sinking rate is the more important function in the second nauplius and copepodid stages of Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837). Except for the similarity in swimming appendage surface areas without setae, the appendages of the two stages are morphologically distinct. Although the nauplius is smaller than the copepodid it has long slender appendages that, with setae, provide greater total surface area than the paddle-shaped copepodid thoracic legs. Copepodid thoracic legs are more similar to those used for swimming by planktonic copepods although with more limited propulsion capability. Naupliar appendages project from the body while copepodid appendages can be folded against the ventral surface, improving hydrodynamic flow as well as body position after attachment to a host. Both copepodid and naupliar appendages are of sufficient size that they should provide escape velocities of more than 100 mm ⋅ s−1. The nature and display of the naupliar appendages suggest they could be used to reduce sinking rate by as much as 64%, reducing the need to swim to maintain a suitable location in the water. Although copepodid thoracic legs could reduce sinking rate by over 40%, their position on the ventral surface and the nature of other appendages suggests a more important use, for orientation and attachment once a host is located.


2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Mbokane ◽  
J. Theron ◽  
W. J. Luus-Powell

Abstract This study provides information on seasonal occurrence of developmental stages of endoparasites infecting three cyprinids in the Nwanedi-Luphephe dams, Limpopo River System. Labeobarbus marequensis (Smith, 1841), Barbus trimaculatus Peters, 1852 and Barbus radiatus Peters, 1853 were investigated seasonally from January 2008 to October 2008. The following larvae of metazoan parasites were collected: Diplostomum sp. from the eyes of L. marequensis and B. trimaculatus; Ornithodiplostomum sp. from the gills of B. trimaculatus; Posthodiplostomum sp. from muscle, skin and fins of B. trimaculatus and B. radiatus; third-stage Contracaecum larvae (L3) from the mesentery fats and on the liver lobes of L. marequensis and B. trimaculatus and gryporynchid cestode larvae from the outer intestinal wall of B. radiatus. All the flukes encountered were metacercariae. Diplostomum sp. and Contracaecum sp. dominated the parasite communities. Their prevalence exhibited seasonal fluctuations with maxima in summer. Factors likely to influence fish infection such as the body size of fish and their condition factors were also briefly considered in this study.


2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1852) ◽  
pp. 20170359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Nair ◽  
Christy Nguyen ◽  
Matthew J. McHenry

An escape response is a rapid manoeuvre used by prey to evade predators. Performing this manoeuvre at greater speed, in a favourable direction, or from a longer distance have been hypothesized to enhance the survival of prey, but these ideas are difficult to test experimentally. We examined how prey survival depends on escape kinematics through a novel combination of experimentation and mathematical modelling. This approach focused on zebrafish ( Danio rerio ) larvae under predation by adults and juveniles of the same species. High-speed three-dimensional kinematics were used to track the body position of prey and predator and to determine the probability of behavioural actions by both fish. These measurements provided the basis for an agent-based probabilistic model that simulated the trajectories of the animals. Predictions of survivorship by this model were found by Monte Carlo simulations to agree with our observations and we examined how these predictions varied by changing individual model parameters. Contrary to expectation, we found that survival may not be improved by increasing the speed or altering the direction of the escape. Rather, zebrafish larvae operate with sufficiently high locomotor performance due to the relatively slow approach and limited range of suction feeding by fish predators. We did find that survival was enhanced when prey responded from a greater distance. This is an ability that depends on the capacity of the visual and lateral line systems to detect a looming threat. Therefore, performance in sensing, and not locomotion, is decisive for improving the survival of larval fish prey. These results offer a framework for understanding the evolution of predator–prey strategy that may inform prey survival in a broad diversity of animals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (11) ◽  
pp. 961-975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Battisto ◽  
Katharina V. Echt ◽  
Steven L. Wolf ◽  
Paul Weiss ◽  
Madeleine E. Hackney

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Irũ Menezes Guimarães ◽  
◽  
Vinícius Augusto Dias Filho ◽  
Ana Helena Gomes da Silva ◽  
Rafael Silva Santos ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT: Prochilodus argenteus is an endemic fish species from the São Francisco River basin that is of high economic and environmental importance. The present study aimed to contribute with information to the taxonomic identification of larvae and juveniles of this species. Larvae , obtained from induced spawning of wild animals, were reared in ponds. Individuals were collected daily and classified into larval stages or juvenile phase. Morphological descriptions and morphometric measurements were performed, together with a piece wise linear regression analysis of the body proportions throughout the development process. Individuals in the preflexion stage had a standard length (SL) of 4.48 to 6.64mm, long to moderate body (BH/SL), small to moderate head (HL/SL), and a small to moderate eye (ED/HL). In the flexion stage, the SL varied from 6.60 to 11.00mm, long to moderate body, moderate head, and small to moderate eye. Larvae in the postflexion stage presented SL of 10.54-19.93mm, moderate body, moderate to big head and small eye. The juvenile phase included specimens with a SL of 18.27 to 42.21mm which presented a moderate to high body, big head and small to moderate eye. Regression analysis showed significant moments of change in rate of increase of the body proportions, presenting a change in the growth pattern from allometry to isometry during the early development.


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