bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Regulation and role of PDGF receptor a-subunit expression during embryogenesis
Authors: Schatteman Gina C. , Morrison-Graham Kathleen , Koppen Antje Van , Weston James A. , Bowen-Pope Daniel F. 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The platelet-derived growth factor receptor a-subunit (PDGFR α) is the form of the PDGF receptor that is required for binding of PDGF A-chain. Expression of PDGFR α within the early embryo is first detected as the mesoderm forms, and remains characteristic of many mesodermal derivatives during later development. By 9.5 days of development, embryos homozygous for the Patch mutation (a deletion of the PDGFRα) display obvious growth retardation and deficiencies in mesodermal structures, resulting in the death of more than half of these embryos. Mutant embryos that survive this first critical period are viable until a new set of defects become apparent in most connective tissues. For example, the skin is missing the dermis and connective tissue components are reduced in many organs. By this stage, expression of PDGFRα mRNA is also found in neural crest-derived mesenchyme, and late embryonic defects are associated with both mesodermal and neural crest derivatives. Except for the neural crest, the lens and choroid plexus, PDGFRα mRNA is not detected in ectodermal derivatives until late in development in the central nervous system. Expression is not detected in any embryonic endodermal derivative at any stage of development. These results demonstrate that PDGFRα is differentially expressed during development and that this expression is necessary for the development of specific tissues.
Histone H1 subtype synthesis in neurons and neuroblasts
Authors: Dominguez Valentin , Pina Benjamin , Suau Pedro 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Rat cerebral cortex neurons contain the five histone HI subtypes Hla-e and the subtype HIO present in other mammalian somatic tissues. The four subtypes Hla-d decay exponentially during postnatal development and are partially or totally replaced by Hle that becomes the major Bl subtype in adults. Hl0 accumulates in a period restricted to neuronal terminal differentiation. Here we study the synthesis of the Bl subtypes in cortical neurons and their neuroblasts by in vivo labeling with [14C]lysine. The subtype synthesis pattern of neuroblasts has been determined by labeling gravid rats during the period of proliferation of cortical neurons and synthesis in neurons has been studied by postnatal labeling. The subtype Hla is synthesized in neuroblasts but not in neurons and is therefore rapidly removed from neuronal chromatin. The synthesis of Hlb and Hld is much lower in neurons than in neuroblasts so that these subtypes are replaced to a large extent during postnatal development. Ole is synthesized at levels much higher than the other subtypes both in neurons and neuroblasts, but its very high turnover, about one order of magnitude faster than that of Hle in neurons, favors its partial replacement during postnatal development. Comparison of the synthesis rates of Hl0 in newborn and 30-day-old rats shows that the accumulation of HIO in differentiating neurons is due to an increased level of synthesis.
Control of proliferation in the retina: temporal changes in responsiveness to FGF and TGFα
Authors: Lillien Laura , Cepko Connie 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Proliferation in the rat retina, as in other parts of the nervous system, occurs during a restricted period of development. In addition to regulating cell number, the mechanisms that control proliferation influence the patterning of tissues, and may affect the determination of cell type. To begin to determine how proliferation is controlled, several growth factors found in the retina were tested for effects on progenitor cell division in culture. Proliferation was enhanced by TGFα, bFGF and aFGF, and many of the dividing cells later differentiated into cells with the antigenic phenotypes of retinal neurons and glial cells. The mitotic response of retinal cells to these factors changed during development: progenitor cells from younger retinas (embryonic day 15 to 18; E15-E18) were more responsive to FGF’s, while progenitor cells from older retinas (&gt;E20) were more responsive to TGFα. Progenitor cells stopped dividing in vitro, even when treated with excess mitogen. These observations suggest that proliferation in the retina may be stimulated by multiple mitogenic signals provided by TGFα, FGF, or related factors, and that proliferation is not controlled by limiting concentrations of mitogen alone. Rather, these data demonstrate that retinal cells change during development in their responsiveness to mitogenic signals. Such changes may contribute to the regulation of proliferation.
DVR-4 (Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4) as a posterior-ventralizing factor in Xenopus mesoderm induction
Authors: Jones C. Michael , Lyons Karen M. , An Peter M. Lap , Wright Christopher V.E. , Hogan Brigid L.M. 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Establishment of mesodermal tissues in the amphibian body involves a series of inductive interactions probably elicited by a variety of peptide growth factors. Results reported here suggest that mesodermal patterning involves an array of signalling molecules including DVR-4, a TGF-β-like molecule. We show that ectopic expression of DVR-4 causes embryos to develop with an overall posterior and/or ventral character, and that DVR-4 induces ventral types of mesoderm in animal cap explants. Moreover, DVR-4 overrides the dorsalizing effects of activin. DVR-4 is therefore the first molecule reported both to induce posteroventral mesoderm and to counteract dorsalizing signals such as activin. Possible interactions between these molecules resulting in establishment of the embryonic body plan are discussed.
Developmental expression of the Xenopus int-2 (FGF-3) gene: activation by mesodermal and neural induction
Authors: Tannahill D. , Isaacs H. V. , Close M. J. , Peters G. , Slack J. M. W. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
We have used a probe specific for the Xenopus homologue of the mammalian proto-oncogene int-2 (FGF-3) to examine the temporal and spatial expression pattern of the gene during Xenopus development. int-2 is expressed from just before the onset of gastrulation through to prelarval stages. In the early gastrula, it is expressed around the blastopore lip. This is maintained in the posterior third of the prospective mesoderm and neuroectoderm in the neurula. A second expression domain in the anterior third of the neuroectoderm alone appears in the late gastrula, which later resolves into the optic vesicles, hypothalamus and midbrain-hindbrain junction region. Further domains of expression arise in tailbud to prelarval embryos, including the stomodeal mesenchyme, the endoderm of the pharyngeal pouches and the cranial ganglia flanking the otocyst.
It is shown, by treatment of blastula ectoderm with bFGF and activin, that int-2 can be expressed in response to mesoderm induction. By heterotypic grafting of gastrula ectoderm into axolotl neural plate, we have also demonstrated that int-2 can be expressed in response to neural induction.
These results suggest that int-2 has multiple functions in development, including an early role in patterning of the anteroposterior body axis and a later role in the development of the tail, brain-derived structures and other epithelia.
Developmental regulation of villin gene expression in the epithelial cell lineages of mouse digestive and urogenital tracts
Authors: Maunoury Roger , Robine Sylvie , Pringault Eric , Léonard Nadine , Gaillard Jean Alfred , Louvard Daniel 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The expression of villin, an actin-binding protein and major structural component of the brush border of specialized absorptive cells, was studied during mouse embryogenesis. We show that the ontogeny of villin expression is limited to the epithelial cell lineages of the digestive and uro-genital tracts and accounts for the tissue-specific expression observed in adult mice. This spatiotemporal pattern of villin expression is distinctive in sequence, intensity, regional distribution and polarization. During the development of the primitive gut, villin is faintly and discontinuously expressed in the invaginating foregut but it is expressed in every cell bordering the hindgut pocket. Later, villin expression increases along the developing intestine and concentrates in the brush border of the epithelium bordering the villi. In gut derivatives, villin is present in liver and pancreas primordia but only biliary and pancreatic cells maintain a faint villin expression as observed in adults. In the urogenital tract, mesonephric tubules are the first mesodermal derived structures to express villin. This expression is maintained in the ductuli efferentes, paradidymis and epoöphoron. Villin then appears in the proximal metanephric tubules and later increases and concentrates in the brush border of the renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. Thus villin expression can be considered as an early marker of the endodermal cell lineage during the development of the digestive system. Conversely, during the development of the excretory and genital system, villin is only expressed after the mesenchyme/epithelium conversion following the appearance of tubular structures.
These observations emphasize the multiple levels of regulation of villin gene activity that occur during mouse embryogenesis and account for the strict pattern of tissue-specific expression observed in adults. In the future, regulatory elements of the villin gene may be used to target the early expression of oncogenes to the digestive and urogenital tracts of transgenic mice.
The torpedo (DER) receptor tyrosine kinase is required at multiple times during Drosophila embryogenesis
Authors: Clifford Robert , Schüpbach Trudi 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The torpedo (DER) gene of Drosophila, which encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase of the EGF receptor subfamily, is essential for oogenesis, embryogenesis and imaginal disc development. To gain insight into the nature of the signals transduced by the torpedo product, we have characterized the gene’s loss-of-function phenotype in the embryo. Through the induction of germline clones, we provide a genetic demonstration that maternal torpedo product does not contribute to zygotic development. Thus, the embryonic lethal phenotypes examined accurately reflect the consequences of eliminating all gene activity from the zygote.
Temperature-shift experiments with the conditional allele top1F26 show that torpedo is required at two distinct times during embryonic development: the gene is first needed for germband retraction and for the production of anterior, posterior and ventral cuticle, then later for the secretion of ventral denticles. Since denticle formation can be severely disrupted in top1F26 animals without affecting cuticle production, the early and late requirements for torpedo appear to be functionally unrelated.
torpedo, therefore, is required at multiple times in the development of the ventral epidermis, and may trans duce qualitatively different signals. Since the early requirement for torpedo correlates with the first visible defect in embryonic development, increased cell death in the amnioserosa, cephalic ectoderm and ventral epider mis, the abnormalities in cuticle production and germ band shortening seen in the mutant may be secondary consequences of a primary defect in cell viability. Given that the onset of cell death in torpedo embryos is not preceded by any obvious defects in mitogenesis, the establishment of cell identities or the maintenance of gene expression, it is possible that torpedo transduces a signal necessary for cell survival per se during early embryogenesis. During late embryogenesis, torpedo may mediate the reception of a second signal which regulates ventral epidermal cell differentiation.
MHox: a mesodermally restricted homeodomain protein that binds an essential site in the muscle creatine kinase enhancer
Authors: Cserjesi Peter , Lilly Brenda , Bryson Laura , Wang Yaoqi , Sassoon David A. , Olson Eric N. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
Myogenic helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins, such as myo-genin and MyoD, can activate muscle-specific transcription when introduced into a variety of nonmuscle cell types. Whereas cells of mesodermal origin are especially permissive to the actions of these myogenic regulators, many other cell types are refractory to myogenic conversion by them. Here we describe a novel home-odomain protein, MHox, that binds an A+T-rich element in the muscle creatine kinase (MCK) enhancer that is essential for muscle-specific transcription and trans-activation by myogenic HLH proteins. MHox is completely restricted to mesodermally derived cell types during embryogenesis and to established cell lines of mesodermal origin. In contrast to most other homeobox genes, MHox expression is excluded from the nervous system, with the highest levels observed in limb bud and visceral arches. In adult mice, MHox is expressed at high levels in skeletal muscle, heart and uterus. The DNA-binding properties and pattern of MHox expression are unique among homeobox genes and suggest a role for MHox as a transcriptional regulator that participates in the establishment of diverse mesodermal cell types.
TRP-2/DT, a new early melanoblast marker, shows that steel growth factor (c-kit ligand) is a survival factor
Authors: Steel Karen P. , Davidson Duncan R. , Jackson Ian J. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
We have used a probe derived from TRP-2/DT to detect migratory melanoblasts shortly after they emerge from the neural crest, as early as 10 days post coitum (dpc). TRP-2/DT expression is otherwise restricted to the pre sumptive pigmented retinal epithelium, the developing telencephalon and the endolymphatic duct. The pattern of steel and c-kit hybridisation in the developing brain differed from that of TRP-2. TRP-1 and tyrosinase probes also detected melanoblasts but were both expressed later in development than TRP-2. We used the TRP-2/DT probe to investigate the way that the Steel-dickie (Sld) mutation interferes with melanocyte development, and found that the membrane-bound steel growth factor which is missing in Sld/Sld mutants is necessary for the survival of melanoblasts but not for their early migration and initial differentiation.
A comparison of intracellular changes in porcine eggs after fertilization and electroactivation
Authors: Sun F.Z. , Hoyland J. , Huang X. , Mason W. , Moor R.M. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The experiments compare intracellular changes in porcine eggs induced by electrical activation with those induced by sperm penetration. Adequate electrostimulation induces changes in both cortical granule exocytosis and protein synthesis similar to those induced by sperm during fertilization. However, ionic changes induced by electrostimulation differ markedly from those initiated at fertilization. Thus, dynamic video imaging using Fura-2 as a Ca2+ probe provides evidence that parthenogenetic activation induced by electrostimulation is initiated by a single sharp rise in the concentration of intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) in the egg. The intracellular Ca2+ transient increase is triggered by an influx of extracellular Ca2+ immediately after elec-trostimulation. The amplitude of the intracellular Ca2+ transient increase is a function both of the extracellular Ca2+ concentration and of electric field parameters (field strength and pulse duration). Imaging demonstrates further that a single electrical pulse can only induce a single Ca2+ transient which usually lasts three to five minutes; no further Ca2+ transients are observed unless additional electrical stimuli are applied. By contrast, sperm-induced activation is characterised by a series of Ca2+ spikes which continue for at least 3 hours after sperm-egg fusion. The pattern of Ca2+ spiking after fertilization is not consistent during this period but changes both in frequency and amplitude.
Overall, the results demonstrate that, although electrostimulation induces both cortical granule exocytosis and protein reprogramming in porcine eggs, it does not reproduce the pattern of [Ca2+]i changes induced by sperm entry at fertilization.
A transgenic model for studying development of the enteric nervous system in normal and aganglionic mice
Authors: Kapur Raj P. , Yost Cynthia , Palmiter Richard D. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The dopamine β-hydroxylase promoter has been shown to direct expression of the reporter gene product, β-galactosidase, to enteric neurons and putative embryonic neuroblasts in transgenic mice (Mercer et al., 1991; Kapur et al., 1991). In this paper, expression of the transgene, DβH-nlacZ, in the gastrointestinal tract is characterized in more detail in wild-type mice and mice which are also homozygous for the lethal spotted allele (ls). Expression of the transgene in wild-type embryos was first detected in scattered mesenchymal cells in the proximal foregut on embryonic day 9.5, and progressed distally until embryonic day 13.5 when the entire length of the gut was colonized by such cells. Several observations suggest that the mesenchymal cells which express the transgene (MCET) are, in fact, enteric neuroblasts, probably derived from the vagal neural crest. (1) The presence of MCET in progressively more caudal portions of the embryonic gut correlated with the neurogenic potential of isolated gastrointestinal segments grafted under the renal capsule. (2) Mitotic activity of MCET was demonstrated by incorporation of [3H]thymidine in utero. (3) The migratory behavior of MCET and/or their precursors was revealed in anastomotic subcapsular grafts of gut from transgenic and non-transgenic embryos; enteric ganglia of the latter were populated by MCET from the former. (4) Enteric expression of the transgene postnatally was restricted to intrinsic neurons that coexpressed other phenotypic markers of neuronal differentiation.
The pattern of transgene expression in ls/ls mice was identical to that seen in ls/+ and +/+ mice until embryonic day 12.5. At that stage, the cranial-to-caudal progression of gastrointestinal colonization by cells that expressed the transgene extended into the proximal colon of wild-type embryos. In dramatic contrast, caudal expression of the transgene in ls/ls embryos ended abruptly at the ileocecal valve. Colonization of the proximal and mid-colon proceeded during subsequent stages of development in ls/ls embryos, but at a retarded rate and in an irregular pattern. The terminal gut was never colonized in these mutant mice. These observations suggest that congenital aganglionosis coli which develops in ls/ls embryos results from a defect of non-neuroblastic mesenchyme that regionally impairs neuroblast migration.
Actin filaments, stereocilia and hair cells of the bird cochlea VI. How the number and arrangement of stereocilia are determined
Authors: Tilney Lewis G. , Cotanche Douglas A. , Tilney Mary S. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
Beginning in 8-day embryos, stereocilia sprout from the apical surface of hair cells apparently at random. As the embryo continues to develop, the number of stereocilia increases. By 10 1/2 days the number is approximately the same as that encountered extending from mature hair cells at the same relative positions in the adult cochlea. Surprisingly, over the next 2–3 days the number of stereocilia continues to increase so that hair cells in a 12-day embryo have 1 1/2 to 2 times as many stereocilia as in adult hair cells. In short, there is an overshoot in stereociliary number. During the same period in which stereocilia are formed (9–12 days) the apical surface of each hair cell is filled with closely packed stereocilia; thus the surface area is proportional to the number of stereocilia present per hair cell, as if these features were coupled. The staircase begins to form in a 10-day embryo, with what will be the tallest row beginning to elongate first and gradually row after row begins to elongate by incorporation of stereocilia at the foot of the staircase. Extracellular connections or tip linkages appear as the stereocilia become incorporated into the staircase. After a diminutive staircase has formed, eg. in a 12-day embryo, the remaining stereocilia located at the foot of the staircase begin to be reabsorbed, a process that occurs during the next few days. We conclude that the hair cell determines the number of stereocilia to form by filling up the available apical surface area with stereocilia and then, by cropping back those that are not stabilized by extracellular linkages, arrives at the appropriate number. Furthermore, the stereociliary pattern, which changes from having a round crosssectional profile to a rectangular one, is generated by these same linkages which lock the stereocilia into a precise pattern. As this pattern is established, we envision that the stereocilia flow over the apical surface until frozen in place by the formation of the cuticular plate in the apical cell cytoplasm.
The Caenorhabditis elegans cell death gene ced-4 encodes a novel protein and is expressed during the period of extensive programmed cell death
Authors: Yuan Junying , Horvitz H. Robert 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
Mutations in the gene ced-4 block almost all of the programmed cell deaths that normally occur during Caenorhabditis elegans development. We have cloned the ced-4 gene using a ced-4 mutation caused by the insertion of the transposon Tc4. When microinjected into a ced-4 animal, a 4.4 kb DNA fragment derived from the wild-type strain and corresponding to the region of the Tc4 insertion in the mutant ced-4(n1416) rescues the Ced-4 mutant phenotype. The ced-4 gene encodes a 2.2 kb RNA transcript. This mRNA is expressed primarily during embryogenesis, when most programmed cell deaths occur. The Ced-4 protein, as deduced from cDNA and genomic DNA clones, is 549 amino acids in length. Two regions of the putative Ced-4 protein product show some similarity to known calcium-binding domains.
Xenopus maternal RNAs from a dorsal animal blastomere induce a secondary axis in host embryos
Authors: Hainski Alexandra M. , Moody Sally A. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACT
The initial steps of dorsal axis formation are controlled by localized maternal determinants in Drosophila, and a similar process has been proposed in Xenopus. The present study demonstrates that there are axis-inducing RNA molecules located in a specific dorsal midline, animal blastomere (D1.1) of the 16-cell-stage embryo. This blastomere, although in the animal hemisphere at cleavage stages, populates most of the dorsal lip of the blastopore, the region of Spemann’s organizer, during gastrulation, and is the major progenitor for dorsal mesodermal tissues. Cytosol from this blastomere causes ventral cells to take a more dorsal fate. RNA from this blastomere induces a secondary axis when injected into ventral blastomeres and restores the dorsal axis in UV-irradiated embryos. In Xenopus, activin B, goosecoid and Xwnt-8 RNAs can ectopically induce a dorsal axis; however, none is a maternal transcript. Therefore, the D1.1 blastomere probably contains dorsal determinant(s) that are either maternal members of these gene families, or other presently unknown molecule(s). Regardless of the identity of the determinant(s), this study presents the first indication that Xenopus maternal RNAs in the dorsal animal hemisphere are able to organize the dorsal axis.