Several stages in the lens determination process have been defined, though it is not known which gene products control these events. At mid-gastrula stages in @entity1238 , ectoderm is transiently competent to respond to lens-inducing signals. Between late gastrula and neural tube stages, the presumptive lens ectoderm acquires a lens-forming bias, becomes specified to form lens and begins differentiation. Several genes have been identified, either by expression pattern, mutant phenotype or involvement in crystallin gene regulation, that may play a role in lens bias and specification, and we focus on these roles here. Fate mapping shows that the transcriptional regulators @entity22861 , @entity41657 and @entity69614 are expressed in the presumptive lens ectoderm prior to lens differentiation. @entity22861 appears first, followed by @entity41657 , during the stages of lens bias (late neural plate stages); expression of @entity69614 follows neural tube closure and lens specification. We also demonstrate the expression of these genes in competent ectoderm transplanted to the lens-forming region. Expression of these genes is maintained or activated preferentially in ectoderm in response to the anterior head environment. Finally, we examined activation of these genes in response to early and late lens-inducing signals. Activation of @entity22861 , @entity41657 and @entity69614 in competent ectoderm occurs in response to the early inducing tissue, the anterior neural plate. Since @entity69614 is activated following neural tube closure, we tested its dependence on the later inducing tissue, the optic vesicle, which contacts lens ectoderm at this stage. @entity69614 is not expressed in lens ectoderm, nor does a lens form, when the optic vesicle anlage is removed at late neural plate stages. Expression of these genes demarcates patterning events preceding differentiation and is tightly coupled to particular phases of lens induction.

Gene activation during early stages of lens induction in XXXX .

@entity69614 :: ('399335(Tax:8355)', 'Gene') :: ['Sox-3'] @entity22861 :: ('399342(Tax:8355)', 'Gene') :: ['Otx-2'] @entity41657 :: ('379100(Tax:8355)', 'Gene') :: ['Pax-6'] @entity1238 :: ('8355', 'Species') :: ['Xenopus']
@entity1238 :: (8355,Species) :: ['Xenopus']
